It was announced a couple of days ago that Apple's market capitalization put it ahead of Microsoft, making it America's largest tech company.

I've been an Apple fan since our Elementary school got Apple II clones in the classroom when I was in the 4th grade. During Junior High, I wasn't exposed to computers very often, save for the IBM PCs at my dad's office, or at my friends' houses. I just didn't get those machines. They made no sense to me.

Then in the 10th grade, I changed schools and joined the journalism class at Bradshaw High School, a move that changed my life (seriously, that's not hyperbole). I had only seen a Mac once before, on a teacher's desk in Junior High, but the journalism classes at Bradshaw had 3, a Mac SE, an SE/30, and a IIsi. I was hooked. It was because of that class, and those Macs, that I became interested in graphic design.

By the next year, I was the laying out the ads section of the Yearbook, doing my best to recreate the advertisers' logos and their corporate identities, instead of just using Times New Roman to do a bunch of text only ads, as had been done before.

It hasn't always been easy being an Apple guy, but I've always been a staunch advocate for their way of doing things. It occurred to me yesterday that I haven't had to refute the claim that Microsoft owns Apple in a long time. I used to have to hear that from some of my wife's family members. To be sure, Microsoft was basically forced to invest $150 million into Apple in 1997 to keep the U.S. government off their backs because they were becoming a monopoly. They had to help ensure there was some semblance of a competitor out there. (The money was also basically a settlement payment to end the patent infringement lawsuits Apple had been fighting with Microsoft ever since they launched Windows, a copy of the Lisa and Mac).

Once Steve Jobs is gone, Apple's star may not shine as bright, but he has created a culture there that, I believe will continue the momentum that began when he returned to the company.

I didn't count MGMT's new album... I listened to it a few times, but I can't get into it.

High Violet by The National (May 11, 2010)

Infinite Arms by Band of Horses - (May 18, 2010)

Together by New Pornographers (May 4, 2010)

Heaven Is Whenever by The Hold Steady (Audio CD - May 4, 2010)

Forgiveness Rock Record by Broken Social Scene (Audio CD - May 4, 2010)

Brothers by Black Keys (Audio CD - May 18, 2010)

This Is Happening by LCD Soundsystem (Audio CD - May 18, 2010)

So Runs the World Away by Josh Ritter (Audio CD - May 4, 2010)

I purposely set out to only uses my iPad for home tasks when possible for the first few days. After the first couple of days of that, I don't reach for my laptop, nor do I still carry it back and forth to work every day.

I tend to organize my thoughts much better on computer than paper. I was carrying my laptop to meetings, but carrying an iPad works out much better.

I'm still looking for the perfect note taking app or outlining app. I use OmniOutliner on the Mac, and an iPad version is coming in the summer, but in the meantime, I'm wafting. Same goes for OmniFocus. I had considered a switch to Things because their GTD app isn't out yet, but given the cost and some research, I changed my mind.

Pages for iPad is a good start at a word processor, but needs a toolbar in landscape, and more templates. It also needs to share it's documents with apps like GoodReader (an app that should be installed by default due to it's usefulness.) I feel like once an alternative app comes out, it will push Apple into making Pages even better.

I bought a Booq brand sleeve, and I'm pleased with it.

I had been looking at various stands for it, some in the over $100 range, but the perfect solution so far was suggested by Andy Inhatko in the latest episode of MacBreak Weekly: a pair of $4 rubber stoppers. They put the iPad at a perfect angle for typing on a desktop. They also work well to stand the iPad up on the counter whe leaning it against something. By itself, the iPad's metal surface makes it slide when you try to prop it up.

First off, this thing is a little heavier than it should be. I wouldn't mind having just one battery, with the ability to add on our snap in the additional battery. I think the limitation of only having a five-hour battery would be worth it given the decrease in weight. That said, the battery life on this thing is really 10 hours+, they weren't lying on that. You can use it all day, and not need to recharge it.

It's a little awkward to hold it. It seems to be great when you're using it on a desktop. Or if you're laying down it seems to work fine. But, when you're just sitting within your lap, it's a bit awkward. One-handed operation is possible with the iPhone, but not necessarily so with the iPad. It's no wonder that the demos that Apple created showed the users with it on their lap rather than holding it in the air. Holding it up by while your using it in your lap gets tiring. Of course, Well by the extra screen real estate really quickly. when the iPhone came out, I said that you can use it one-handed, which turned out to not be the case.

You get spoiled by the extra screen real estate very quickly. What's really interesting is having used this and then going back and using the iPhone. The iPhone feels really small now.

Some of the quirks that I'd like to see addressed:

• Muscle memory in my fingers has been trying to hit the delete key in the wrong spot all the time. It's a little disjointing moving back and forth from an iPhone app to an iPad app on the iPhone, mostly because of the placement of the keys. I keep reaching for the delete key in the wrong places.
• Also the apostrophe key needs to be more prominent on the iPad keyboard.
• WiFi reception is sketchy at times. I get five bars and I get one bar for no good reason. (Seems like a firmware issue)
• Why are you making me buy a calculator? One should be included.

The good news is that all of this can be addressed via a software update.

Magazines and Newspapers
I'm not sure what time of the magazine companies are thinking with their pricing on their iPad versions. Five dollars for Time magazine that you can pay less than three dollars for the news stand? I don't think they get it. There are some nice interfaces for them though, especially Popular Science. (Here's a good video showing off the art direction.)

The Wall Street Journal has a nice interface too, but it's really slow because it fetches and preloads ALL the articles and images when you launch it. Not sure I'll pay a subscription, it's not like I was reading it already, but it's a nice experience if you're into that paper.

iBooks
Apple's iBooks app is a good start, but I won't be buying any books for it until there is an iPhone client, and support for notes and highlighting. I had already been using the Kindle app on my iPhone to read a couple of books, and now I can sync my bookmarked location between my iPhone and my iPad, allowing me to whip out my iPhone to read a book while waiting at Anna's swim lessons, etc. I'm sticking with the Kindle app for now.

So Many Things Are Right On
There are a lot of things that the iPad gets completely right. E-mail and web browsing is fantastic on it. With the new iPhone software update coming over the next few days (hopefully) e-mail will be even better because of the unified keyboard. Photo scrolling and Safari zooming in and out really is as responsive as in the videos. And it really is like holding the web in your hands.

As soon as I can find the perfect note-taking app, I'll be even happier with it.

Favorite apps so far:
Twitepad
Good Reader
Plants vs Zombies
Kindle

Over the weekend, while I was working at a retreat, I walked in front of a tv screen and was pleasantly surprised to see that Dr. Paul won the CPAC straw poll.

Immediately, the neocons in the Hannity and Limbaugh circles started claiming that this was only because a bunch of college kids showed up.

Anytime Ron Paul has a good showing in any poll, etc., it's always because "hackers gamed the system" and other nonsense, see the YouTube below for more examples. Any poll victory is the result of mobilizing your supporters.

This is the result of new blood getting into the mix in the party. Last time around, they were fooled by the dirty tricks from Fox News, GOP party leaders, etc. I think this is the first in a series of steps to show that the Ron Paul Revolution has learned from the mistakes of the past. They are going to be far better organized this time around.

I won't be naive. There will be more dirty tricks, and they will be dirtier than before. During the last campaign, there was a concerted effort to keep Paul supporters from attending debates. Fox News even made sure Dr. Paul wasn't invited to participate in one of their debates.

Since then, he's appeared on the network over 60 times and countless times on the other cable news stations. Now, however, expect dirty tricks. They'll pull out old debunked newsletters that paint him as racist, or they'll try and link him to the most extreme right-wing supporter they can find. The neocons who have controlled the Republican party for so long won't go down without a fight.

He's pretty much the only one in the bunch that has any credibility at all when it comes to the mantra of shrinking the government. Republicans talk about these things, and then don't do them when they get the chance. They don't call Ron Paul Dr. No in Congress for nothing. He votes it down if it is not in the constitution.

If things stay as they are economically, (or get worse, as I am predicting) the only way Obama wins again is to have Palin to run against. Look for the media to really push to get Palin credibility, at least until the primaries are over, and then watch them tear her back down again.

Given Dr. Paul's age, It will be key for him to have a running mate named before the primaries even start. There are some folks out there who could run with him who have gotten enough name recognition and trust built up to be an asset. I'm hoping for Paul/Napolitano.

It's going to be an interesting fight the next few years...

What happened to these empires? The cost of maintaining them bankrupted them. They were unsustainable.

We don't like to call ourselves an empire, but look at the numbers:

There are, according to the Department of Defense's "Base Structure Report" for FY 2009, 716 U.S. military bases on foreign soil in thirty-eight countries. Yet, according to the expert on this subject, Chalmers Johnson, the author of Blowback, The Sorrows of Empire, and Nemesis, that number is far too low: "The official figures omit espionage bases, those located in war zones, including Iraq and Afghanistan, and miscellaneous facilities in places considered too sensitive to discuss or which the Pentagon for its own reasons chooses to exclude -- e.g. in Israel, Kosovo, or Jordan." Johnson places the real number of foreign bases closer to 1,000.
from Same Empire, Different Emperor by Laurence M. Vance

Follow the link, the evidence gets even more damning.

It's no wonder we're broke. We still have 50,000 troops in Germany, I guess in case the Nazis come back.

"I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am President, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank." - Barack Obama

We have one ruling party in America right now, it has 2 wings: The Democrat wing likes wealth transfer, taxes, and assaults on commercial liberties. The Republican wing likes deficits, war, and assaults on civil liberties. Both sides like power; and neither is interested in your freedom, or in toning down our empire. (ht Andrew Napolitano, who likes to point that out every chance he gets.)

All this in the name of national security? I think we'd find much more security if we brought the majority of those folks home.

I had a hard time shooting it, mostly because I was laughing so hard. And when Cops: Sumatanga was finished, we thought that it was hilarious. The camp staff thought it was hilarious. The reaction from the campers wasn't quite as strong. I guess a video with a counselor being mean to campers didn't translate as well as one where a rubber bird terrorizes campers.

Back to the drawing board for next year. I now present for your viewing pleasure, my magnum opus: Cops - Sumatanga.

The Crimson Tide went 6-7 last season and has not won a national championship in 15 years. Yet a number of Alabama fans truly expect Saban to have a 10-victory team this season and be in the BCS title game within three years. And those are the rational fans.

Dear Cary:

Who is a delusional Alabama fan? I am.

Yes, and there were mp3 players before the iPod, but which one is considering the ultimate version of the technology that caused it to take root?

And there were smartphones before the iPhone too. But which one is the one that finally get things right (mostly.)

I owned one of the original tablets, the Apple Newton. I loved that thing back in college. When Steve Jobs returned to Apple, he killed off the Newton project, mostly because it wasn't his baby. Newton had been spun off into a subsidiary company and was starting to flourish. The project wasn't making money, but it was breaking even.

Newton OS 1.0 was a joke, the handwriting technology was lampooned and with good reason. It was lousy. The product was released before it was ready. Newton OS 2.0 was no joke. The handwriting technology actually worked.

In college, I used to carry around a Newton 120 running Quicken and I would log all of my purchases into it. I would use it for taking notes in class.

On last week's MacBreak, Leo Laporte made a great point about the Newton. The technology in it was fantastic. It was way ahead of its time. They're still impressive machines to this day. But it was the perfect product to highlight the difference between an Apple with and without Steve Jobs. Apple with Jobs has a track record of finding that nexus of form and function that is so crucial.

There have been Apple tablet rumors since 2002. The iPhone actually originated as a "Safari Pad" idea:

"Apple's multitouch technology began life not as a cellphone, but as a notepad-sized skunkworks project internally dubbed Safari Pad, run by Tim Bucher, then Apple’s head of Macintosh hardware. To his credit, Mr. Jobs seized on the technology and morphed it into the iPhone."
New York Times, June 2007

Apple clearly had the technology to release such a product. Most companies in the tech industry would have already done so. This thing has been in development for years and years now. If it comes out and it does indeed look like a big iPhone, that's not necessarily a cop-out design-wise. The hype machine has been in overdrive for a long time now on this thing, so I think that the first reaction might be disappointment from the tech blogs. If they had come out with this thing with the exact same interface as the iPhone 2 years ago as the iPhone was introduced, people would be drooling. Funny how quickly what was revolutionary seems passé.

Apple stock tends to drop a little when they introduce a new product. I'm betting it drops a bit today.

I was there in San Francisco when they introduced the iPhone. A Steve Jobs keynote is a pilgrimage all Apple geeks should make. I hate that they don't do them at Macworld anymore, where the fans can attend. It was indeed a landmark day... what will today bring?

I'm predicting:

10" screen (LCD, not OLED)
Wifi
3G support (hope this doesn't cost an arm and a leg. I already have a data plan, let me tether iPhone to it for $5 a month)
iPhone OS 4.0 with new gestures
Pressure sensitive screen for sketching
No stylus, but it will support handwriting via 2 fingers gripped like a pen
Won't be named iPad or iSlate. I like Canvas.
Will support scaled iPhone apps, but will have apps that are built just for it
Front facing camera, but no rear one - do you really want to carry this to shoot snapshots?
Apple sets Bing as default search on iPhone 4.0 over Google
Google Maps replaced with Apple's own mapping app with Turn by Turn GPS
Cost? $800, which is too much, but it will drop

I guess it's just that I couldn't really related to it. I had never unexpectedly lost someone that I was more than just an acquaintance with. I guess I really should consider myself very fortunate. Death has not been anything that I've had to deal with in a long time. Two of my grandparents died when I was in high school and that affected me, but not in this way. I had another grandparent that I wasn't close to die in college. Didn't really affect me. But hearing yesterday that my friend Matt Miller had died hit me like a ton of bricks.

I knew Matt through working with him at Camp Sumatanga. There's just something about the friendships that are forged in those circumstances. The intensity of a weeklong camp has the effect of hanging out with someone for a month. Sharing a religious experience like that create a bond of friendship that is stronger than most any other I've experienced.

Matt was in Memphis during the week attending Memphis Theological Seminary, so he and I would have lunch from time to time, talking about our mutual love for the Crimson Tide and Sumatanga and more. On Wednesday, he was over at our house, telling us stories of his crazy experiences as a church pastor who moonlights as the Assistant Chief of Police in rural Alabama over a bottle of wine and some steaks. Three days later, he was gone, having drowned in a duck hunting accident in Arkansas.

As I read through the comments posted on his Wall on Facebook last night and through the status updates of our mutual friends, it made me wonder if he knew how loved and respected he was. Maybe we should all take the time to let the people in our lives know how we really feel about them while we still have a chance.

Nooma - Matthew - Rob Bell

Suffering the loss of a loved one can be the most difficult thing we face. Sometimes all the reasoning and comforting words in the world just aren’t what we need. What might help us, however, is to understand how Jesus dealt with this kind of loss.

Nooma - Matthew 1 of 2:

Nooma - Matthew 2 of 2: