iPad = Star Trek Geek's Ultimate Toy

The iPad is quite possibly the coolest Geek Gadget I've ever owned (so far). Its exactly what Gene Roddenberry foresaw as one of the futures of mobile computing when he created Star Trek. A thin, portable, powerful, touch screen interface to access the worlds information. Kudos to Apple for making his dream a reality.

Of course it was only a matter of time until someone took the Star Trek LCARs interface and wrote an app to literally turn your iPad into a Star Trek PADD. The most interactive and useful one I've found so far is called LCARS Internet Media Reader by the guys at Krueger Systems [iTunes Link] ($4.99 USD). Its mainly a Reader app for now without the ability to post but updates are hopefully in the works once they get some annoying legal issues worked out with the Studios.

A few other LCARS related apps that I've found and like are:

• LCARS Clock by Cedesoft [iTunes Link] ($0.99 USD)
• LCARS Calculator by Cedesoft [iTunes Link] ($1.99 USD)
• DiagnosticPADD by Park Bench Software [iTunes Link] ($0.99 USD)

I am ever hopeful that Paramount will get their head out of their collective asses and put a Dev Team on LCARS Application Development. They are missing out on a Metric Ass Load of revenue from the Star Trek Fan Community. The above apps are rather inexpensive and focused on a single or short list of features. The money is in the Official, Licensed versions that would be feature rich and supported rather than independent apps that could disappear via C&D order from the studios any day now.

Come on Paramount! Where are the Official apps? You have no problem having Captian's Log yanked from the App Store yet you haven't given the fans what they are obviously willing to PAY for.

iPad (Don't blame me, I didn't name it)

I sat with eager anticipation today waiting for the Apple Event to start. In between working on various request and emails for my day job I refreshed and watched the tech sites as they prepped for the event. Speculation ran rampant on what was to come. Leo Laporte was live streaming/blogging from the event on Twit TV with Alex Lindsay manning the fort back at the Twit Cottage. His live audio feed made the event quite enjoyable because while the audio was working I didn't have to wait for Engadget or Gizmodo to refresh. Steve Jobs came out and announced the successes of Apple over the past year and then let us in on Apple's newest invention. The iPad. Yeah, I know. Twitter is already flooded with #ipadpuns and I'm sure they'll just get worse and more frequent over the next few weeks.

My impression of the iPad, in a nutshell, is that its a 9.7in diagonal screen version of the Touch. I can see this device establishing itself in the market as a great e-reader and a Kindle killer over time. The base model is not much more than a Kindle and you get 10times the power and capabilities as the Kindle. With the Kindle iPhone/iPad App available in the App Store, purchasing a Kindle now would simply be stupid. Don't shoot me if you have a Kindle. You most likely purchased it before today so you're not stupid. Just unlucky.

The CEO of McGraw-Hill has already spilled the beans that they are working closely with Apple on getting more and more books onto the iPad. Apple today launched iBooks and is working with publishers to get the prices to be reasonable and affordable. Imagine carrying your entire library of favorites or all your textbooks in one device for instant and immediate reference anywhere you are.

As disappointed as I am in the iPad's lack of a front facing webcam and video conferencing features. I am thrilled to see Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek PADD (Personal Access Display Device) take form in the iPad. The future of data access is devices like the iPad. The Kindle tried but in my opinion, failed.