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People always get excited about the difference in the price of electronic goods in the UK compared to other countries, particularly the USA. I first went to the USA in 1979 and soon learnt about US sales tax. A nasty shock to some. Several years ago I created a small spreadsheet to calculate the cost of an item based on the number of minimum wage hours you would need to work to purchase the device. Not only do you work less hours here to buy an iPad but you also need to keep in mind the cost of fuel is much higher here. Meaning that EVERYTHING costs more a a result.

Click on the link below to see comparison for the Apple iPad.  An unfair comparison? I do not think so, it does not however take in consideration the general cost of living and the amount of disposable income the average person may have.

On average someone above the age of 22 in the UK needs to work LESS hours to buy an iPad compared to someone in the USA. The difference is small (~2% less hours) but certainly no one in the UK can complain. Get a grip folks. And be thankful you can afford a new toy, many people in the world get decent drinking water.

The code and documentation can be downloaded from here.

I am truly humbled by the experience. I just wish I was a better coder.

The power consumption at my house over the last year. The red line is the average and the blue line are the peak usage. This chart was created using Cacti, while the underlying data was created from my Current Cost project.

I recently made an Ice Tube Clock from Adafruit Industries.

Whatever the issue it all looks good now.

Enjoy,

Mark

I think I had made my mind up about the iPad before it was announced. To my friends I said "if it has an iPhone-like OS then I don't want one". So when last Wednesday came I took one look and said to myself "why would I want to carry around a giant iPod Touch?". At the time I immediately said no. I have iPhone, I have several Macs. Do I really need a device that is neither? I had yet to get it.

Today I read two articles that went a long way to changing my mind. Secondly I spent the day analysing my own use of a computer.The first article I read was all about how the iPad represented a new world way of using computers. I am definitely old world. I am a long time IT pro and a geek, so messing with computers is both what I do all day and I enjoy. While I want to install a web server and run native Perl application in a terminal window I realised today that I do need to. Having used an iPone 3G for the last 19 months I realise that I should not need to think of a computer as a operating system, file system, window and applications, but rather as window to my data. I have long realised that most new world users are more open at using new applications and web sites than I am. While I look at Flickr and think I wonder their proxy servers work, most normal people look at Flikr and think what a great way to share the pictures from the office party. This first article nicely sums up my thoughts much better than I can.

I also read Andy Ihnatko's first impressions article. It is a great summary of how the iPad works and some of its short comings. Andy thinks the lack of a 'visible' file system is an issue. I would agree, the ability to move data between applications is a very important aspect of a multi tasking data device, i.e. a computer. While I do not think the lack of obvious multi tasking is an issue, the ability to move data between applications is going to be crucial for the larger device. Data sharing on the iPhone is of no real hardship. As the iPad is supposed to site between the iPhone and a full on Mac then in my view it needs to be more like a Mac and less like an iPhone.

As well as the ability to share files and data between applications I would also like to a better way to exchange data with a real computer. The monster that is iTunes is not really suitable for moving my Pages, Office, PDFs and other files between my desktop and the iPad. An Apple Insider article touches on this very topic. Maybe Apple's plans for cloud computing will address this. No doubt Apple would charge for such a service. Which is fine by me as I loath advert laden or limited functionality free services. However there a plenty of PC users that would be reluctant to follow sign up to The Apple Way.

In addition I would also like to see an easy way to directly print documents from the iPad.

I started to write this entry after I realised that I could have spent most of the day using a iPad and not really needed my Mac Book Pro. I spent some of the time coding, but I could have done that on my iMac. For the rest of the day I could have wandered around the house with an iPad and been just as productive (sic).

So have I changed my mind and do I now want an iPad?  Well maybe. I suspect that I will not be at the head of the queue on day one the launch in the UK. Just as I waited for a iPhone 3G rather than buy the first generation iPhone. I will wait for a few months to read how others a getting on. I have no need to be an early adopter these days. Also it would be good to see the iBooks application and accompanying store be available in the UK.

Keep in mind that thousands of people said when the iPhone came out; why would I want one? Some three years later the iPhone has made Apple one of the largest mobile devices companies in the world. Apple always seem to start slow and grow with amazing speed. The iPad juggernaut has only just started to get rolling.