Yippie.

The exact thing that prompted my purchase of this new laptop was a broken touchpad. I had never been a big fan of mice or touchpads but the ones that come on Macs now are mind blowing. The three and four finger swipe motions are just so well designed that a mouse hater like myself can’t help but fall in love with it.

I think that actually tarnishes getting a new computer for me. The whole setting up and getting used to it.

But this thing has been with me since I came to Japan and it is beat. Filthy, keys missing, keys replacing missing keys so I can type properly. It’s disgusting. When the trackpad broke I figured it was time to bite the proverbial bullet. Yeah, I’m going to have to scrimp a bit to afford it, but I use it every day for so many things so it will quickly be worth the money spent.

I just have to get used to it now.

1. It has a funny name.
2. It is a larger iPhone that is missing features people wanted.
3. You will buy one.

Let’s talk about each in turn, shall we?

1. Funny name, Turd Fergison
If you can recall The Simpsons episode featuring Homer in the B-Sharps, when deciding on the name it was said that the name needed to be funny at first but less so each time you say it. Nintendo struck gold with this method because talking about playing with your Wii is now socially acceptable. The iPad will get its fair share of menstrual jokes but at the end of the day it is a good name. It flows with the Apple iThing naming standard, of course, but also describes it perfectly. It is a fancy notepad. Some have said they preferred the name “iSlate.” Now, I got a C in marketing but even I know that sounds like a rock.

2. It sucks.
I’ve only been a fan of Apple for the past six years, but I cannot recall a time when Apple has made an announcement and the Internet has not had a hissy fit. I’ll be honest, I’ve not looked at the specs of the iPad, but do I really need to? Apple has had a trend of not putting in things that seem obvious but in the end I end up not missing them. This has happened over and over again with Apple products that I’ve bought that it almost frighteningly feels as if Apple knows what I want more than I do. It seems Apple realizes that we as people are much more flexible than technology. We develop our patterns and around technology and not the reverse. What we want and what we actually need are so similar and thus so hard to distinguish. I almost feel that whenever something is left out, after us of the product I find myself wondering why I wanted what I did in the first place. It’s bizarre to be sure, but it has happened far too often at this point to simply dismiss. Were it only Apple products I could dismiss it as fanboyism, but that hasn’t been the case. Whatever it is Apple packs under the hood of the iPad, I’m sure it will deliver the experience Apple wants me to have and the product and I will work out to find the pattern of usage that works for us.

3. You’re gonna buy this thing, like it or not.
I say you and not I because I am poor right now and cannot afford the thing. Now, you may be the kind of person who absolutely refuses to buy Apple products and do not hesitate to tell anyone that you don’t while you boast your Linux running toaster and open software fueled hat. And I’ll never understand you, but I suppose it just wasn’t meant to be. But I say “you” to mean the general public because this will be purchased. The iPod taught us that simplicity is key, and the iPhone has taught us that simplicity can be poweful. And while I will not proclaim the iPad to be a smash success, I am confident that it will, like many Apple products before it, change the way many people do certain tasks.

Basically, like Delicious Library, it hits up Amazon.com to get as much information about the game as it can. I fill in the rest manually with information from GameFAQs. Well, just the game’s cover mostly. Had no idea GameFAQs was such a good resource for this, but I haven’t met a game yet without a picture of its cover there. Anywho, there are tons of stats and charts and tables it can get out of all your data and it has Smart Libraries, just like iTunes, where I can pick and choose the information I want to see easily without needing to do lots of manual sorts. For example, I know right now I have 199 unfinished RPGs to play. Ugh.

In that aspect, it’s been a great motivator for me to complete games that I haven’t yet and sell games I have no intention of ever touching. Having all that information there is just nice.

It also has export functions for text, iPod and even more importantly: html. It has a nice iPhone option so I can, in two clicks, have a folder on my desktop that contains all my stuff in my collection or wish-list that I can plop on this site and then check when I am out in a store. No more “did I already pick up this game?” moments.

So, for $18US it was a hell of an investment which I heartily recommend to anyone who is looking to get some organization beyond what is done on the shelves.