Category: Miscellaneous

Pineapple Juice

  • February 18, 2010

For some reason, this morning I have pineapple juice on the mind.

pineapple

I love pineapple juice; always have and always will. I remember as a child not liking the taste when drunk out of the metal cans it came in, but I’m guessing this was a precursor to my (infamous) hatred of metal in my mouth. One of my schools as a youth used to freeze pineapple juice and sell it during the summer, and I used to get them whenever they were available. I could drink the stuff endlessly, with nary a care in the world.

This continued when I came to America. I used to buy the single-serve Dole cans in bulk, and slug them in one gulp frequently. But as time went on I started to suffer from mouth ulcers badly, and after some experimentation discovered that pineapple juice was one of the major culprits. Sadly, I had to stop drinking it completely, and today a glass of the sweet nectar is a rare treat.

The pineapples in Hawaii are… well their sweetness defies description. Truly one of the very best things I have ever tasted, the locals joke that the Hawaiians keep the good pineapples and export the others. This may be true, since the acidity of the pineapples we get in the supermarket is simply not present in the Hawaiian ones. So during my stay in Hawaii I was able to not only drink the juice like mad (several glasses every breakfast started each day) but also eat the fruit in vast quantities.

The quality of their pineapples alone is almost reason enough to vacation in Hawaii!

I haven’t given up on pineapple juice completely. I sneak a drink here and there (most recently, in Australia). And this summer I have a plan to make my own frozen pineapple treats using the Zoku KLS received for Christmas. One day I hope I can drink it safely again, and that’s the day I’ll stop drinking orange-mango (my current juice of choice) and return to my first love 🙂

It Continues…

  • February 16, 2010

The iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch coverage continues… as a request to Verizon to hurry up and get their act together and start offering the damn iPhone!

  • Posted in Miscellaneous
  • Robert

It’s Gonna Be Big

  • February 14, 2010

The iPad is going to change the world.

iPad1

If you don’t yet know what the iPad is, check this out.

Yes yes, when it was announced everyone was a skeptic. No USB, no Flash, no camera etc. The biggest dismissal: “It’s just a big iPod touch!”

I was unsure myself at first, although less critical than some. I was wondering what the plan was, but with a few weeks gone I think I’m starting to see the big picture.

For instance, Microsoft is thinking about putting Office on the thing, Disney is talking about releasing apps that work with their TV shows (ie. you watch the show via the app and interact in some way). Hulu.com’s making an app for it (this should silence the ‘no flash’ naysayers somewhat) and who knows exactly what Apple has planned for magazine delivery on the device?

All this is well and good, but my reason for being so excited about it is exactly because it’s just a big iPod touch.

On my iPod touch I have a browser, an RSS reader, a mail app, and apps for music, video and photos. In addition I have a slew of games and all sorts of nifty productivity apps (like a pdf reader, a password app and a dictionary). I often use the device in lieu of my computer, since most of the time when I use the computer all I do is check the web and/or email, and I can do that just fine on the iPod touch. In fact the thing is so useful that I’ve often thought of an obvious way it could be improved: give it a bigger screen.

I’d wager that the vast majority of home computer usage – worldwide – boils down to email, web and quick, simple games. The iPad does all of this as good as any PC, but much easier. For most common activities I suspect it will be an simpler solution that turning on a computer or laptop. Since we, as humans, love ‘simple’, it seems only natural that this will be one of the big draws of the iPad.

In time, new iterations of the device will (I suspect) add such things as a USB slot or card reader (both could remove the need for a PC with regards to digital photography), a stylus (a korean sausage perhaps?)  and maybe even a camera (for Skype). Furthermore the price can only go down, which will make it a more attractive purchase for those looking for a new solution to their needs.

Unlike those that say “this is hardly a replacement for your laptop”, I don’t subscribe to the idea that we need all the gizmo’s we have on our PCs today, and that it is only natural the way we use the internet will change as our interface changes. I see the iPad as the first truly serious replacement for a computer, and if is only at least as good as a iPod touch but with a bigger screen, well then I’m convinced.