Who Should Buy the iPad 2?

If you are thinking about buying the iPad 2, you should read this article. It is short and to the point which is always good. It does a great job of listing who should buy the iPad 2 and why someone may not want purchase one.

Personally, I could get caught up in the hype and fantasize about owning this shiny new "cutting edge" device. I am a gadget girl after all. Who doesn't like to have the latest and greatest as well as have the new challenge of mastering yet another device? There are a number of reasons why I won't own one and a couple of them are in this article. One of the main reasons though is the cost of the device and the cost of the data plans. I am already paying a hefty fee to my carrier for my Droid's data plan. With the iPad I could just tack another $40 onto that bill. My current plan is what they call the "unlimited" data plan which is really 5 gigabytes if you read the fine print. No one who carries any of these new devices really has unlimited data. 5 GB doesn't go very far in the video arena which is one of the key reasons to own an iPad. I can't watch videos on my current device due to the data limitations so how am I going to do it with an iPad? Let's imagine the data overages if I used it for Skype! I don't think people take that all into account especially those who see it as an entertainment device for the kiddos. I know several people who have purchased the original iPad for their kids. My kids know better to think the iPad is in their future unless they plan to pay for it and the data plan. At that point, I think they will be off my mobile phone plan. They would love to have a smart device and that isn't happening in the near future just because I don't want deal with the extra cost or any overages. They don't remember the day we had AOL 15 hour a month limitations so how can we expect them to understand 5 GB limitations? Until we get the bandwidth costs down for mobile devices as well as limitaions, I don't see myself owning an iPad. Plus, I am a bit of an open standard's girl.

Motorola Xoom vs iPad 2: Let the Dueling Begin

I haven't had my hands on either one of these nifty little devices and if someone wanted to give me one, I wouldn't whine about either one. Both the iPad2 and the Xoom look like great devices. They don't replace the laptop, but they seem to be on their way. Personally, if I was planning to buy one, I would probably go with the Xoom just because I am such a big fan of my Droid and the Android platform and the open market. The only drawbacks are right now is the inability to load my iTunes library, view Hulu and watch Netflix. All that really means is that I am carrying two devices so I can listen to music and downloaded videos and if I want to watch streamed content I wait to use my computer or my Roku box. That really doesn't even bother me since I don't want to charge my Droid constantly and if I really want music, I do have Pandora. There are a couple of great blog entries reviewing the iPad2 and the Xoom at Computer World where their finding is that the Xoom is the winner in this duel. Personally, it may just be a matter of taste, but you be the judge.

8 Reasons the Motorola Xoom Beats the iPad

Motorola Xoom verses the iPad2

How Many Email Addresses Do You Have?

I can answer that one! Toooooo Many!

It started out easy enough. In 1994, I got my first email account with my local ISP. They were bought out by another company so I was ported over to the new ISP's domain name. You can still find remnants of those old addresses out on list serves if you search for them. I left that ISP, but not before I signed up for Yahoo! email so that I could do Yahoo chat and build a webpage for my class reunion. I also wanted web access so I could check my email elsewhere and my ISP didn't offer webmail until later on down the road. By then, I also had a Hotmail/MSN account I used for IMing and it became my Junk Mail account. I use it to sign up for stuff and when I need to have an account to download software. Somewhere in there, I went to work for the university and they gave me an email account. The university didn't have webmail either. That didn't happen until 1998 or 1999. After that, I got my first Gmail account (remember you had to be invited) which was really going to be my crafting and business account for Stampin' Up. As many of you know that new career was short lived, but the email address remains. At about the same time I got my Gmail account, we switched ISPs because we were able to get wireless broadband out in the boonies. This led to another email account, but I also lost one because I ended my contract with my old ISP. Last year, I got my DROID which led to another email account. You had to have a Google account which I had, but I didn't want to use the crafting account because no one would know who I was with such an obscure name. Well, most people wouldn't. I also couldn't get my Yahoo mail on my phone at the time because I am cheap and didn't want to pay for the premium Yahoo! account. Why would I when I could just get another Gmail account? So, I did just that and started changing my email over to that account. Because I am cheap and won't pay for the premium account with Yahoo! I still can't forward so I am still getting some mail to that account. In the end, this makes 6 email accounts. Really, who needs 6 email accounts? Because of this, Inbox Zero will never happen for this lady!