PLAN FOR IMPROVISATION

My family bought me an iPad for fathers day last year.  I have been completely surprised how much I use it professionally and personally.  Here are the ways I have been using it that I never expected: The only computer I use at home (sometimes I don't turn on my laptop at work until lunch time either) Never taking a laptop on a vacation again Teaching my kids the alphabet, numbers, and simple arithmetic (I was shocked how well this worked & how much the kids were into it) Watching Netflix Letting kids use the iPad on vacation so I can sleep in Tracking my finances on Mint (until I ditched Mint - that's for another blog post) Writing blog posts (this one included) Flipboard! Playing casual games (I never used my iPhone or Android phone for this before) Actually using Twitter Finding creative commons images on Flickr Reading articles sent from people at work after hours Reading the blogs I follow in Google Reader Looking at Pivotal tracker while I'm...

Anybody who has been to our office knows I am an Android fan. My prediction is that the Android platform will end up with a much, much larger install base than iPhone OS. Originally, I felt this way because you can get a Android phone on every carrier for a lower cost than the iPhone - many of them are now free with a contract. This is good enough, but I have a new insight. The Android OS does a great job of directing your attention to highly important information. As such, its easier for new users to pick up and for busy people to use. How can this be? You should argue that the the Android OS so similar to the iPhone OS. You are right. However, it comes down to usability. The majority of people out there won't explore their device to find information. They just want the phone to do the work for them. If it doesn't smack them in the head it might as well not exist. Android has two crucial features that make it a helper more than just a smart phone. First, Android b...