I know there have been millions of articles about the iPad. But you haven’t heard my perspective. So, here goes… As soon as I saw the iPad announcement I was of two minds. On the one hand I thought “Why would I want to pay $500 for a glowing screen version of the Kindle?” On the other hand, it was hard to deny a big touch screen device that gives you immediate access to all your content wherever you are is pretty interesting.

Lucky for me, the release of the iPad was relatively close to my birthday. I circled the wagons and let everyone who might be thinking about giving me a gift to give me some money to go towards an iPad. It worked so well that I don’t think that I received any other gifts besides this iPad.

In the first few days of owning any gadget, it is hard not to love it simply due to the novelty. The real test to any gadget is if you still use it on a daily basis a month or two months or a year later. So far, the iPad seems to have staying power. It is a great toy, but it is much more. It is now a part of my work day as well.

iPad as Toy

Here is the thing. We are officially in the future. Think about this. Go back just ten years. Thin TVs existed, but they were pretty expensive. Most people still had those big tube-type TVs. TiVos were around but not very prevalent. If someone handed you a thin screen that you could hold in your hand that connected to the Internet, played movies, played TV shows, played music, let you purchase and read books, you would have lost your mind. This thing is a game changer.

Now that I am using an iPad on a daily basis, it has completely changed how and why I use my laptop. My MacBook has now been relegated to content creation only. All the content consumption has been off loaded to the iPad for me. It is great. When I want to relax, I get out my iPad and browse around all the different types of content at my finger tips until I find something that seems interesting whether it is a movie, podcast, website, book, or whatever.

iPad as Tool

I don’t go to a meeting without my iPad. I have downloaded a killer app that is simply called Todo. All it does is help you create a todo list. But man, the way it does that simple job is worth the $4.99 I paid for it. I can track all my projects. I can see all the tasks that are relevant to where I am at the time. And, the user interface is beautiful. When was the last time you were passionate about a todo application?

The iPad also gives you a quick and elegant interface to manage you email and calendar. It makes the management of your life clean and simple, which for me is a good thing. It makes me a better manager of my life because it is just more fun now.

The iPad is too big to take everywhere, but because nearly everything syncs back to the cloud, I have access to all my data on my iPhone. When it is inappropriate to carry the iPad, I have the iPhone in my pocket. I hate to sound like such a fanboy, but I love it.

The Negatives

The iPad isn’t the panacea for all problems. It is not a great content creation device. I am typing this blog entry on the iPad right now and nearly all the muscles in the upper half of body are starting to hurt as I lean forward trying to type on this thing. It is not a replacement for your main computer which means it is an expensive accessory. In a world where people go to bed hungry or thirsty, there are probably better places to spend your money.

Final Thoughts

I figured that I was going to like the iPad as a toy but I am continually surprised by how useful this thing is in other areas. If you are wondering whether or not to get an iPad because it seems expensive for a toy, rest assured it is much more…

About a year ago, I made a change to the look and feel of my blog. It was a magazine look which really made my blog look cool. The only problem was that it raised the amount of production it took to write a blog entry.

Every time I wrote an entry, I had to create an image that had very specific measurements which had to be uploaded in a specific way. The long and the short of it is that I had to do too much to write a blog entry.

It has been a long time since I have written a regular blog entry. I want that to change. That is why I changed the look and feel again.

I don’t know if I like the new look and I might change it again. The hard part about choosing a new template is knowing exactly what I want. How do I want to use this blog?

I am going to do some thinking.

Update:

I have found a new blog look I like.  As of the time I write this, it is a blue theme with a picture of a lightning strike in the header.  I love thunderstorms and severe weather so this works for now.

One thing that we are learning in this process of helping to develop curriculum for Walmart is the value of communicating a complex story in a way that is simple and easy to understand. This isn’t as easy as it sounds. There is a lot of thought and hard work put into keeping it simple.

You know you have done your job when you show a finished product and one of the responses is, well I could have done that. That means you have made your complex message so accessible and easy to understand that the message is obvious to the viewer.

Here are a couple of things to remember when you are feeling frustrated attempting to make the complex simple:

Creativity is Messy, Loud, and Sometimes Stubborn
Don’t get frustrated when it takes some time to get to a workable solution to a problem. Often we are given a complex problem to sort out. It is as if we were given a box of miscellaneous parts and a time limit to create something valuable. There will be a lot of trial and error. There will be a lot of time spent poring over the parts looking for some kind of order. It can seem unproductive.

Remember Progress, Not Perfection
The biggest opponent of creativity is the empty page. Solutions, even bad ones is better than a blank page. Start filling your page with something. Start making progress. Staring at an empty page rarely ends with that elusive eureka moment. Give your brain something to process. Eureka moments happen most when you bring order to disorder, so at least give your brain some disorder to process.

If It’s Confusing, You’re Not Done
If you have a hard time explaining it, break it down further.

Simple is Different for Different Audiences
Know your audience. Put yourself in their shoes. I know, I know that sounds like cliche, but that is because it is true. Something that is simple to a room of electrical engineers is different from what is simple to my daughter’s class of fourth graders. Know that simple is a sliding scale.

Overly Complex Messages Make You Look Like a Tool
If you want to prove that you are smart, go on Jeopardy. It is much more impressive keeping everyone in the room engaged and able to understand your message.

There is more to this, but hopefully, this is enough to get you thinking about the value of simplicity.

Wow, it has been an entire month since the last time I updated this blog. Hey, that is ok. It is after all, my blog.

I have been spending all my creativity at the office, and how many people can say that? Probably not many. How many people go to work dreaming of the day that they can start their own business or move to another position that better suits their passions; probably most. I get to do what I am passionate about nearly everyday. Yeah, there are days that are slogs, but most aren’t. Also, I work on a small team that trusts me. That means that a lot of the time, it is my vision, or I have a big say in what is created.

I have had the opportunity to do some jobs that are completely up to the client, and the final product isn’t what I would have done, and that is pretty excruciating. I can only imagine how hard it is to be the art guy at a t-shirt shop or somewhere where you spend your days creating the imaginings of customers who have limited or no vision. Ewww.

I am always impressed with the people who can do that without blowing up and becoming so frustrated that they lose their job. Or, maybe I pity them because maybe they have just given up; passion gone, just turning the wheels.

If you are there, I challenge you to sit down and make a list of the things that you are good at and you absolutely love and start making progress towards crafting your job to look more like that. You are surrounded by people who are passionate about the things that you hate. Give those jobs away. Find ways to be a part of the things you love. Ask to help out. Donate your time to fulfilling pursuits. You will find that over time, you will start having to donate your time less and less as you become an expert.

I am an artist at an organizational development company. We help companies develop their talent. Most companies like ours don’t have an artist on staff because they don’t believe that they can afford them. In the past, that was true. Now however, the cost of computers, cameras, software, and other tools of the trade have dropped so much in price they may be surprised at what is possible.

Ten years ago, I would have had to work at a magazine, television station, or design shop to do what I do. Not anymore. The real surprise here is that since I am not on a huge team of creatives, I have huge variety in my job and I get a major say in what it looks like.

I have a degree in Transportation and Logistics. I should be in the trucking industry. I am not passionate about that. I have no official training in art. (Though at times that would be handy…) I just started to do what I was passionate about more and more and started dropping the things I wasn’t passionate about. I got noticed and hired. Now I am in my own personal bulls-eye. It is possible. Do it.

It all started with the spark and the new tagline of ‘Save money. Live better.’ which made its debut last year. It all culminates with this. Presenting the brand new Walmart logo.

Its letters are now more rounded and the hyphen has been removed.  The changes definitely freshen the look and gives the logo a decidedly european feel to me.  I like it.  The Walmart logo has been in need of a refresh for a long time.

The branding change comes hand in hand with Walmart making a concerted effort to rebrand itself on all fronts.  It is trying to make its late nineties image of ‘Always the Lowest Price ALWAYS’, a tag line that has a decidedly authoritarian flavor, a thing of the past.  That old tagline seemed to say that having the lowest price was worth whatever it took to get it, and customers began to cry foul.

Now, Walmart is taking the lead in green issues and working very hard to address social issues an organization its size causes.  It is hard to miss that they are spending a lot of money and effort to put together a newer and more approachable brand.

Thank you Presentation Zen for finding this cool little video about typesetting the old fashioned way…I mean the really old fashioned way.

I now know more about purses hand bags than I ever thought I would ever know.  I spent 7 hours today filming assorted high-end hand bag makers describe and show off their lines to buyers at Dillard’s.

I now understand why $200 hand bags cost $200.  Apparently, the best leather in the world is made in Italy.  So, the next time you are out shopping for a high-end hand bag, look for italian leather.

I have to say, they were pretty cool, I have a new respect for that industry.

If you have any interest in smart phones, especially Palm-based ones, then you need to read this incredibly thoughtful post from engadget. It was posted way back on August 21st, and a lot of you who actually keep up with your RSS feeds have already read or at least heard about this post, but it is incredible.

Peter Rojas, Ryan Block, and Joshua Topolsky have done an exceedingly good job at calling Palm to the mat on their lack of innovation, and ridiculous grip on past successes.

I have a lot of friends who have Treos, and all of them have MAJOR complaints about their phone, and the scary thing is Palm doesn’t seem to know that they are quickly becoming irrelevant.

I remember 4 years ago when Treos were all the rage. They were an exceptional answer to the lack of choice in the email phone market. Blackberries were great if all you did was email. I knew a number of people who carried Blackberries and a separate phone. Treo answered that problem. The issue is Palm hasn’t done very much since then, and all their competitors have.

There are a ton of sexy, thin smartphones out there, and people would have to be stupid to invest in a Treo now. Palm has to do something, and Engadget is calling them on it, and I applaud them.

Sorry this post is so late compared to the original article. I have been incredibly busy…too busy to blog.