Last week I was stoked for the release of the Apple tablet, which we now know as the iPad. The iPad is quite the sexy machine, I’ll give it that. But the sexiness of the iPad comes at the cost of functionality. The iPad is not the powerful and fully functional device I had hoped for. Instead the iPad is essentially an oversized iPhone, that cannot make calls, without usb, Flash, or a camera. I love my iPhone, but I love my Macbook a whole lot more because it can experience the web as it was meant to be seen. Unfortunately, a true web experience is impossible with the iPhone, the iPod Touch, and now the iPad.

Apple makes millions from the cut they take from every app sold in the App store. Since there are thousands of Flash games and apps on the net already for free, these would certainly slow sales in the App store. Consequently Apple has decided to disable the functionality of Flash, thus making a true web experience on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch impossible. Apple has made a huge mistake by seriously inhibiting one of the most important and prolific technologies on the web, and they should correct their mistake.

Here is a hands on demo of the iPad. I’m pretty sure this demo is done by an Apple employee because she is overly enthusiastic about the slightly tweaked iPhone OS functionality.

In use the tablet looks more like a toy than a tool. Typing on a flat screen with my thumbs is difficult enough, and although I’ve gotten quite used to it and fast, a real keyboard still kills just a screen when it comes to sureness and speed. Flat screen tapping is awkward an unnatural. Swipe keyboard technology is very promising for the software keyboard world, but it is still not available for the iPhone/iPad, and still requires development and refinement before it goes mainstream.

We Want Flash

The HUGE problem with the iPod touch, iPhone, and now the iPad, is that they do not support Flash technology. Brands like Nike, Hulu, BBC, Major League Baseball, and more rely on Flash to deliver the most compelling experiences to over a billion people. Flash can produce an awesome web experience. Check out this post about 50 amazing examples of Flash to get an idea of what I mean. The amazement of Flash is not possible with an iPad, and until it is I won’t buy one, no matter how sexy it is. What I have done is signed the petition for Apple to adopt Flash at Iwantflash.com, and I encourage you to do the same. Iwantflash is a petition started by my cousin Luke Kilpatrick.

Google Tablet

Google has a tremendous opportunity here. By combining their open source Chrome OS with a Tablet PC that has Flash enabled, they could dominate this new tablet market with a device the delivers a true web experience.

Below is a concept video of what could be possible with a Google Chrome OS for a Google tablet device.

What do you think?

After contemplating Google’s venture into the mobile market, including the Android platform, and the Google Phone Nexus One, it seems almost an inevitability that they will seek to compete in the new tablet market too.  If Google does indeed produce a tablet what do you think it will be called?  gTab?  People will still buy the iPad because it is sexy, but do you think it will success?  What do you think of the iPad?

I have seen it tweeted by several different people that Snow Leopard has made their computer faster. Since the jump if from a 32 bit to a 64 bit operating system it must become faster because the processor is processing twice as many bits of data than before. Check out the speed difference below.

The Proof

Snow Leopard Performance Test from Gizmodo on Vimeo.

The Box

The Picture of The Snow Leopard on the cover of the Box for the latest Mac OS had to be photoshopped. In the original picture of the White Snow Leopard red blood could clearly be seen on the animals face.

Apple is Branding Snow Leopard as the “Worlds most Advanced OS” which is a bold claim, but as both a PC and an Apple user I can tell you that Apple has a much more enjoyable operating system interface than Windows; fonts are enhanced, and navigation is more fluid.

Apple computers are more fun to use and great for media projects, but Windows makes PCs the most compatible machines out there. Compatibility is often a problem with Apple computers.

In this Video a Crazy Old puppet named Walt Mossberg spits nonsense and humor about Apple’s new OS:

The Essential Snow Leopard Info:

64 bit support

64 Bit truly unleashes the power of your hardware. This step is significant, as I remember when I upgraded 32 bit Vista to 64 the effect was very noticeable.

Quicktime X

The latest and greatest version of Quicktime allows built in recording and trimming of videos but the main improvements include stutter free playback of hd video and a load time that more than twice as fast.

Stackable Folders

For those who have a tendency to keep many windows open at once Apple makes it easier to see what programs are active.

The Price

$29.00 from Apple.com, that’s it, that’s all. Shipping takes 3-5 days and its free. Prices are USD. For aBetter Deal you can buy Snow Leopard from Amazon.com for only $25 USD. That is a pretty cheap upgrade, plus you’ll get the cool box with the Snow Leopard that had the blood photoshopped off! The Canadian Price for Snow Leopard is $43.87 Canadian Dollars from Amazon.ca.

Feedback

Have you upgraded to Snow Leopard yet? Do you find that your Apple computer runs faster now that you Upgraded? Are you happy with the purchase?