I haven’t written on my blog during the whole month of May as should be obvious. I’d like to say that I’ve been writing elsewhere, but that would be a lie. I have been on break — a much needed break. Alas, May is at an end, and so is my break. I begin teaching this week, and I’ll begin writing again, too. What have I been doing?
I celebrated my anniversary this month with my lovely wife. It’s been four years. We rented a condo on St. Armand’s Key in Sarasota; we ate, drank, lounged, and exercised. What a great time. Happy anniversary again, A.
I have been using my iPad. It goes with me everywhere except to run and to shower. I’m even reluctant to put it down when I sleep. My favorite applications are the reading ones: iBooks, Wired, GoodReader, and NewsRack. In fact, I think the iPad will mark a return to true reading, especially for me.
Nicholas Carr argues that the Internet is rewiring our brains and making us all multitaskers. This means that we lose concentration and focus more easily, that our attention is more fragmented, and that we exchange depth for breadth. We are, in many respects, teaching our brains to think less deeply and pay more attention to crap. Bruce Sterling made a similar case in his futurist study Tomorrow Now. He argues that our activities on the Internet accumulate fragments of information in blogs, tweets, and social networks, but there’s not real learning going on. Carr suggests that these new skills are not necessarily all bad, and Sterling emphasizes a return to canon building as a way to focus these disperate voices. I think the iPad can help.
Like I wrote above: my favorite apps are the reading apps. IBooks is Apple’s free book reader, and it is slick. Not only can change the fonts and their sizes, but I can double-tap on a word, and click “Dictionary” to look up its meaning. So simple, and so useful. I can insert bookmarks, but I wish I could annotate those. (Are you listening, Apple?) I have purchased a few books, namely Dan Simmons’ Ilium and Octavia Butler’s Kindred, and I have also downloaded many freebies. I’m also excited about making my own. Can you say “self-publishing”?
The coolest app I’ve purchased (so far) is Wired (pictured above right). Man, is this slick; it’s what a magazine on the iPad should be. The pages are gorgeous and the navigation is intuitive and spot-on. When they discuss music, there are samples to be played. When a movie makes sense, one’s provided. They even have a slick, three-page ad for HBO’s True Blood and other animated and interactive goodies. Now the app is $5, and it’s worth every penny. However, I think this will eventually go down. I’d gladly pay $30 a year for this awesome periodical. The rest of you magazine publishers out there should take note: you want to save your industry? Look to Wired‘s example. I could see The New Yorker, Asimov’s, National Geographic, etc. all on my iPad.
GoodReader is another great app. Essentially, it allows me to load up my PDFs and read them on the iPad’s gorgeous screen. I have many PDFs, and this is very slick. They look great, and the program is pretty responsive. But that’s not even the coolest part: it’s all the options I have for getting PDFs onto the iPad. GoodReader links to Box.net and my Dropbox. I can browse the contents of both, and then download whatever I need. Very nice. I’m loading up all my lecture notes; I plan to use the iPad in the classroom. Oh, the educational possibilities are so tantalizing, but I’ll save that for another entry.
NewsRack is my RSS reader. I like that it syncs my Google Reader account. It also looks good and functions well. ‘Nuff said.
Not only have I been spending time with my iPad, but I’ve been wasting time on the computer. Most of that is the fault of Tumblr. Well, tomorrow, my time on Tumblr is going to be limited by necessity.
I’m teaching two class this summer: a first-session World Literature 1, and a full-session World Literature 2, online. I like this schedule for summer, as it will give me some flexibility in July. Several of my friends and colleagues aren’t teaching this summer. I wish that was an option for me, but I need a paycheck. Maybe some day.
That’s really about it. May’s been great. It might be my favorite month of the year.
