iPad & the toilet reader

In the 1990s I worked in IT/Tech support at Brown University. It was an interesting time and place for an Apple user. IBM and the Thomas J. Watson family provided a lot of money and equipment as well as research grants to the University. Indeed, initially I worked at the Watson Institute for International Studies.

When I arrived, most of the staff were using IBM microchanel PCs and Wordstar 2000 or WordPerfect. Within a few years, the Institute was almost exclusively using Macs. (Sadly this was reversed sometime later as Apple's fortunes declined and the Institute sought more funding for their new and improved facilities.) I even got to demonstrate Apple's QuickTake digital camera [http://tinyurl.com/3k4c33c] to Mr. Watson's widow, Olive, who seemed suitably impressed.

So how does this relate to the iPad? Well the man in charge of all things computer at Brown was Don Wolfe, himself a former IBMer. Once a year he'd hold court with all the departmental computer coordinators and deliver his "State of the Computer" speech. For IT folk, it was a must see event.

Mr. Wolfe's speech in 1995 (or 1996) was prophetic (and off base). When talking about future computing trends at the university, he declared that as Apple was in decline, support for Macintosh would be limited and perhaps eliminated. In fairness, this was before the return of Steve Jobs. Had Steve not reclaimed his role at Apple, Brown wouldn't have been the only university to abandon the Mac. So Don came to the wrong conclusion but given the facts as they existed at the time, who could blame him?

But on another point he was quite farsighted. One of the major concerns at Brown (or any university) was the impact of technology (and the then new internet phenomenon) would have on books, newspapers, journals and the world of publishing. Mr. Wolfe's thoughts? "You can't take your computer into the bathroom! Until then, books are safe."

And he was right. Even if you did take your laptop to read on the toilet, were you going to bring along a power cord and a phone cable? Who had phone access in the bathroom? And if you could connect a laptop, how long would you want a hot computer resting on your bare flesh? Laptops would be just a tad unwieldy.  And how much stuff was there to read? No, he argued, the future was still bright for book publishing.

Of course I doubt that Steve Jobs had the iPad toilet tested but it certainly would meet Don's criteria: as easy to hold (maybe easier) as a book or magazine, plenty of material to choose from and . . . video as well. All brought to you by Apple.

iPhone noPhone

I love my iPhone but sometimes I'm just not so crazy about the phone. 

Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with the phone itself. But sometimes you'd like to not be so connected. It really is quite liberating to free oneself of constant connection to the rest of the world via phone and voice mail. 

Simple solution? Turn the iPhone off. Or better yet, leave it behind.

Except . . . while I might not want to talk with anyone, I don't want to deprive myself the pleasure of surfing the web or using some of my netcentric apps. What to do?

Technically, the phone is one feature/app that you can't just turn off. If you could, you'd have an iPod touch. However, there are ways to disable the phone.

The first option is to set your iPhone to Airplane mode. This will immediately terminate all cellular [3G] transmission and reception. It also will shut down any WiFi connection. So now you've eliminated phone calls but while you'll be able to use some apps (Camera, iPod, Calculator, etc.) you won't be able to use any netcentric apps. Solution?

Once you've engaged the Airplane mode, you can now go back and reconnect to your WiFi connection. Now you can sit back and enjoy your iPhone without having to deal with any pesky phone calls.

Enjoy!