The Chronic Consumer

I am not much of an art enthusiast, but it’s practically impossible not to appreciate the classic works on display at the Louvre Museum in Paris. I visited the museum in person many years ago, but only had time to see a few of the most famous works (including the Mona Lisa). This official iPad app now allows me to view and study even more great displays whenever I feel like it.

Here’s the description from the App Store:

Discover the museum and its most beautiful artworks, and stay updated thanks to our new Newsfeed function.

•100 Louvre masterpieces in your pocket. The selection of museum must-sees now features Greek sculptures, paintings by Bosch, Titian, Raphael, Holbein, and Cranach, and a drawing by Leonardo da Vinci

•Over 500 images and details to zoom in on

•A presentation of the palace and its history, with a new introductory video to take you round the Louvre

•New functions for sharing your favorites with your friends, by email and on Facebook

•Regular updates on key events at the museum (exhibitions, publications, etc), and our “Visitor Information” section to help you prepare your visit (getting there, museum maps, opening hours, admission fees…)

Perfect for Louvre fans: via In-App purchase you can buy the most beautiful visuals to assign to your contacts, use as wallpaper and view as a slideshow.

I like many things about this app, including the fact that each work comes with a rather detailed description of its history and content. Navigation is easy, and there are a lot of interesting pieces to look at. But the app does have its problems. One of the biggest is its sheer size. At over 800MB for the initial download, this thing is a beast that takes up way too much space, especially if you only have a 16GB iPad, like I do. Second, the app is slow to open and sometimes crashes, thus leaving me feel disinclined to deal with it at times.

I paid $3.99 for this app 10 days ago, but I see that it is now FREE at the App Store. If you can get it for free and you have room for it, then you should definitely download the Louvre app. If you have to pay $3.99, then you might want to think twice. I’m happy that I have the app, but not too pleased that I paid for something that is now free.

Anyway, I look forward to future updates that will hopefully get this thing streamlined and make it even better!

When I heard that Apple struck a deal with a few textbook publishers and would be making high school level textbooks available for the iPad, I knew I had to buy one to try it out. There were only about 8 titles to choose from at this early stage, so I went with Algebra 1 since I want to brush up on my math skills anyway.

The description of the book from the publisher is as follows:

Algebra isn’t just numbers and equations. It’s about the world you live in. With Glencoe Algebra, you get hands-on math applications to help you succeed in whatever career path you chose. Interactive personal tutors, animations, and practice problems let you review as much or as little as you need to prepare for success in college and beyond.

Content includes:

Relationships between Quantities
Expressions, Equations, and Functions
Linear Equations

Linear Relationships
Linear Functions
Equations of Linear Functions
Linear Inequalities
Systems of Linear Equations and Inequalities

Exponential and Quadratic Relationships
Exponents and Exponential Functions
Quadratic Expressions and Equations
Quadratic Functions and Equations

Advanced Functions and Equations
Radical Functions and Geometry
Rational Functions and Equations
Data Analysis
Statistics and Probability

I have only been playing around with the book for a few days, so I haven’t had a chance to go through the whole thing yet. But I do have a few initial impressions. First, the book is simply beautiful on the iPad. This is precisely what the tablet should be used for, IMO, and I think McGraw Hill did a good job making their digital book colorful, well laid out, and interesting. Second, the book covers a great deal of information. It’s a real textbook after all, so there’s a school year’s worth of stuff inside.

I also like that that the book contains the answers to selected problems. This makes it suitable for people like me who are taking the self-study approach to the subject. Without answers, the text would obviously have very limited value for us.

And finally, the book has three important features that students will find extremely useful. It’s easy to highlight passages simply by tapping the text and following the on-screen directions that appear. You can also create study cards based on your highlights or the key vocabulary words from the unit. The note cards have the vocab term on the front, and then you can flip them over to see the corresponding definition. And of course there’s a search box so you can quickly find pertinent pages for the topics you’re looking for. The search includes not only the book itself, but also the web and/or Wikipedia (if you want).

The only thing I was disappointed in is the lack of multimedia elements contained in the book. I think there could have been some more video clips (beyond the “Private Tutor”) or other truly interactive features to enhance the experience.

On the whole, I am very impressed with this textbook. At $14.99, it’s pretty expensive as far as apps go, but that’s a fraction of the cost of a real textbook. This is a terrific early effort and I just can’t wait to see what other kinds of books will follow (history, please!!!).

I have been making a concerted effort to purchase more education-oriented iPad apps for my son to use instead of the standard games that we had been buying for a while. One of the highly rated apps I decided to try was this one from Encyclopedia Brittanica Kids called Volcanoes.

Here is the description of the app as it appears on the iTunes store:

Volcanoes are an awesome display of the Earth’s power. Explore them interactively with this new app and learn about the world’s major volcanoes and their eruptions, lava, plate tectonics, and much more. Learn and play at the same time through a variety of games like Memory Match, Jigsaw Puzzles, and the Magic Square among others. Learning has never been more fun with this interactive and educational app that is based on school curriculum.

Learning about Volcanoes has never been more fun with this quick, interactive and educational app based on the school curriculum. And as it’s from Britannica you can be sure it’s appropriate and safe for the whole family. Ideal for homework help, the app features:

Exclusive Encyclopædia Britannica curriculum-based written specifically for ages 8-12. Coverage of the topic includes:

The Erupting Earth
Lava and Magma
Types of Volcano
Birth of an Island
Plate Tectonics
Eruptions
Decade Volcanoes (featuring 16 of the world’s deadliest volcanoes)

Then the fun starts:

•Interactive Map – With this amazing tool you can locate where you are anywhere in the world and see how near you are to the most powerful volcanoes. Want to see your favourite volcano? It’s easy with our map tool, use the zoom feature to see right into the craters.

•Jigsaw Puzzles, created from amazing graphics of volcanoes. Break apart the puzzle and have some fun by shaking your device and then sliding the pieces back into place to complete the puzzle – it’s not as easy as it looks!

•Scramble images of volcanoes in The Magic Square game by shaking your device. Challenge yourself by re-arranging the squares to unscramble the image.

•Brush off – brush off the lava, soot and dust from the eruption of Vesuvius to reveal an object in the city of Pompeii and then try to guess what it is – how many can you answer correctly?

•Test your knowledge on volcanoes with the Quiz feature – how much have you learned? But hurry: you must answer quickly as the quiz is timed!

•Test your memory with the popular Memory Match game and match up the pairs!

Clearly, this app contains a ton of great features, which is probably why it has gotten such great reviews to begin with. All of the pictures are beautiful, and the games and puzzles really add to the experience. The reading difficulty is a bit too high for my son (who is just 8 and a little behind his peers in that subject), but I have taken the time to read from the app to him, which he seems to enjoy just as much. He’s interested in volcanoes anyway, so it’s no wonder he loves this app.

The games and activities are the big draw for kids. The puzzles and matching game are the ones my son spends the most time with, though he also likes the Magic Square activity despite how tough it is. Also, the pictures and video segment is something that holds his attention for a long time as well.

Overall, I am happy with my purchase of the Encyclopedia Brittanica Kids “Volcanoes” iPad App. There is a lot of information packed into this little program, and it is presented in such a beautiful and fun way that kids can’t help but spend time with it — and learn a little something in the process. I recommend it!

So I finally decided to download the infamous Words with Friends app for my tablet pc. This is the game that’s supposedly so addictive Alec Baldwin got kicked off a flight because he refused to turn it off. I’d been hearing buzz long before that, of course, but for some reason finally decided to get it.

The thing is, I’m not that impressed with it thus far. I have the Scrabble app, too, so maybe that factors into my reaction a little bit. Words with Friends is basically Scrabble Lite, in my estimation. It’s the same game, just with a differently organized board and a different amount of tiles. Some of the point values on the tiles are different as well.

The main point in favor of Words with Friends is how easy it is to play against friends. You can find friends by contact information in your device or via Facebook/Twitter if you give the game your login information. You can also play games with “randoms” if you want a bit of an anonymous go at it.

That’s all well and good, but the thing I can’t stand about Words with Friends is its excruciatingly slow pace! There’s no time limit for any of the moves, so games literally drag on for days and days. This reminds me of when my dad used to play chess via postal mail with a friend way back before computers were commonplace. It took 3 days to make a single move and then the waiting would start all over again. That’s exactly how some of these Words With Friends matches play out. Ugh. I understand that people are at work/school and might not have time to play a full game in one sitting. But there should definitely be a “Quick Play” option that limits either the time between moves or the number of rounds in the game so the thing speeds up.

Overall, I’m not sure what the fuss is about. Maybe I’d change my tune if more of my friends had the app, but as it is, I prefer playing Scrabble against the CPU and getting the game over with in a reasonable period of time!

Oakley used to be known primarily for eyewear, but the company has branched out into producing a lot of other stuff, including snowboarding gear like the men’s jacket pictured here. This particular model is called The Goods, and comes with a bunch of cool features that you might not expect from a jacket.

First of all, this is a lightweight item with a waterproof shell. The specs on that are “10K mm waterproofing with 15K g/m2/24hrs breathability.” Honestly, I have no idea what to make of those numbers, but someone more knowledgeable can probably figure it out. The bottom line is that you’ll be dry and comfortable while wearing The Goods.

Another great feature are the two zipped chest vents at the front of the jacket. At first glance, they appear to be slash pockets, but when you lower the zipper, you reveal a mesh vent that allows air to flow in and cool you down. (Remember, this jacket is for skiing or snowboarding, so it’s possible you’d work up a sweat while wearing it.)

The rest of the details (as listed by Oakley), include:

• 100% polyester performance shell jacket
• Fully tape – welded seams
• Fixed hood with magnetic hold—down system
• Adjustable cuffs
• Fixed storm skirt system with snaps
• Pocket for your goggle
• Hand pockets with zips
• Double storm flap

What I particularly like about The Goods is that it is a very warm jacket without having all the bulk usually associated with warmth. I didn’t buy this for snowboarding or skiing, but it serves just as well as a regular, everyday winter coat. The waterproofing and extra features make this a great purchase — especially now that the 2011 models are on closeout at most places. You can find this thing for about $111 as opposed to the $160 I paid for it a few months ago! But nah, I’m not bitter

I want to start getting more real productivity out of my iPad instead of just using it as a fancy notebook or web browser. Towards that end, I’ve been buying apps that let me use the device more like I would my desktop computer. My latest purchase was Pages, the iWork version of word processing.

Here’s the description from Apple:

Pages lets you create great-looking letters, reports, flyers, invitations, and more on your iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. And the story gets even better. Now iCloud keeps your documents up to date across all your iOS devices — automatically. So whatever device you’re on, your projects are ready for you to pick up right where you left off. Words have never come so easily.

I don’t need quite that much functionality, since I only have an iPad at the time. In fact, I don’t even know how to access iCloud (is it automatic??) or anything like that. But from the little bit that I’ve used Pages thus far, I have to say that the rest of the info from the description is right on.

Pages comes with a number of pre-loaded templates (formal letter, letter, resume, poster, visual presentation, etc.) so creating those kinds of things is a breeze. You just select a template, and then replace the existing text and/or graphics with whatever you want.

Creating new documents is even easier, and I love how there are quite a bit of options for fonts, sizes, and headings. This makes me feel like I’m using a powerful program, even if I do just select Times New Roman, 12-pt every time.

Another great thing about Pages is the ease with which I can add, edit, and otherwise manipulate photos and other objects in the document. I just grab photos right from my iPad, scale them down, wrap the text, and I’m good to go. This makes creating newsletters and similar photo-heavy documents easy.

And finally, I can open and edit Word documents, and export my own work as Word or PDF files so others can open/read what I’ve done. Oh, and did I mention that all my work is automatically saved as I type? No more worries about losing text if I get interrupted and have to shut down quickly.

All in all, I think Pages was a very smart purchase. It costs $9.99, which is expensive for an app, but I believe the product is worth even more than that. If this cost $19.99, for example, I wouldn’t blink an eye about paying that.

Anyway, if you want some true word processing functionality on your iPad, then you simply must get Pages. I wasn’t all that impressed with Numbers, but Pages is a great app!

I like to jog outside even in winter, so I was looking for a product that could keep me warm without making me too hot. Under Armour, while far more expensive than most other brands, usually does the trick, so I decided to give their Armour Fleece Full-Zip Hoody a try.

This is a loose-fitting product that I use as an outer layer over my SubZero base layer and another long-sleeved shirt (non-UA). The Armour Fleece Hoody has a soft, brushed inside and a smooth, quick-drying outside. The fabric on the inside is designed to retain warmth and wick moisture, while the fabric on the outside dissipates the moisture. It also comes with a 3-panel hood, and 4-way stretch construction for mobility.

I’ve had my hoody for a couple months now, and really love it. I was a bit skeptical at first because the wind usually cuts right through hoodies like they’re nothing, but this UA product really does keep me warm. The sizing is great, as it’s big enough for layering but not overly bulky (which is the problem I have with using regular sweatshirts for jogging).

If there’s one complaint I have about my Armour Fleece Full Zip Hoody (besides the $65 price tag), it’s that the zipper is very hard to operate! Maybe mine got damaged somehow without me realizing it, but I often have to yank and struggle quite a bit to get the thing going. Once the zipper is engaged and starts moving, it’s fine. But engaging it in the first place takes much longer than it should.

Overall, though, this sweatshirt has quickly become my favorite. I’m even thinking about buying another one so I can reserve one for jogging (where it gets sweaty and stinky) and another for lounging around the house on weekends.

I use my iPad for almost everything, including daily to-do lists and memos. Sometimes it’s a pain to have to type everything in on the touchscreen, so I decided to buy a stylus and note taking app. After checking out some recommendations, I decided to go with the Bamboo stylus by Wacom.

The Bamboo stylus has the length and heft of a regular pen, so it feels good in my hand. It also works very well with Penultimate. All of my brushstrokes are recorded and the handwriting rendered looks VERY close to what it does on real paper.

The only thing I have a problem with is that I can’t quite get used to its wide nib. This was my first stylus purchase for a touchscreen device, so I didn’t know that this is how they all are. I can control the line width in Penultimate, but even when I select the finest option, I can’t get used to writing that way. I prefer the thickest line option in Penultimate, in which case the Bamboo stylus works like a champ.

Overall, I think this is a good product. It does what I need it to do, which is general note-taking for daily life. I’m not in school and I’m not an artist, so if that’s what you plan to use your stylus for, you might have different criteria.

At $30 this was the priciest stylus at the store. I chose it anyway because I have used cheap accessories in the past and been burned. I don’t feel I was ripped off on this purchase, though.