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I’ve decided that I’m definitely going to pursue an iPad before the end of the year, but that actually brings about a bit of a conundrum.

At the moment, I’ve got all my media converted into an iPhone format so I can watch older Dr Who or Battlestar Galactica episodes on the move. I’m soon going to be ripping and converting all my Red Dwarf DVD’s to the same format. What I’m also quite likely to do is produce high quality rips of episodes from all those shows in a size and resolution good enough to watch on my 27.5 iMac. Yes yes I know I could just put the DVD in the machine but I like the idea of quickly opening up an episode without any faffing around.

However, when I do get the iPad does this mean that I’m going to create a third copy of all of these episodes converted to a more suitable size and resolution, just for the iPad? One approach I was thinking of taking is simply creating a generic ‘mobile’ edition of the episodes at a half way point between what I’d put on each of the two devices. Perhaps that is the simplest solution?

Two weeks ago I took delivery of an iMac 27.5′ that I bought on finance from the Apple Store, and I have to say that I’m glad I made the investment. I moved away from PC’s a few years ago when I decided to jump ship to the Macbook Pro 15′, and I am now completely Windows-less.

I still have the trusty MBP bagged up, however I’m keen to refurbish and sell it with a view to possibly getting an iPad, or contributing towards the expense of buying a new camera.

The specification I went for is Dual Core Intel i5 3.06GHz, 4GB memory, 1TB hard disk and an ATI Radeon HD 4670 graphics card with 256MB on board memory. The processor and memory specifications are quite similar to the MBP, although the iMac is definitely faster which is probably down to the i5 processor.

The screen, which is a true 16:9 widescreen display at 2560 x 1440 resolution is quite simply, stunning. I’m only just getting used (again) to having all of the extra workspace, and being able to have multiple windows up at once with plenty of room to spare. The size of the iMac makes everything else in the office spare room look pathetic; although at least the colour scheme matches my printer.

Applications such as Aperture, Final Cut Studio, Photoshop and After Effects really benefit from all the extra space, and running games like Football Manager and even golden oldies such as Deus Ex at full resolution is quite something.

The Apple Magic Mouse with its button-less design works really well, and I’m surprised at how quickly using it has become second nature as I was really expecting it to be a nuisance. I went for the full, wired numpad keyboard instead of the standard wireless one, and that was a wise call as I do a lot of work in Excel and other applications where I’m regularly entering figures.

I have to say that the migration (which I did over Ethernet) from the MBP to the iMac was utterly painless. The only thing I had to install once the migration was completed was, ironically, something need to support MS Office Mac Edition! The only issue I have now is that I need to get a 1TB firewire or USB drive to use as my Time Machine backup!

The iPad has officially gone on sale in the states over the Easter weekend, it is due for release in the UK later this month and I have to say that I’m very interested in getting my hands on this latest piece of Apple wizardry.

I already have a 15″ Macbook Pro, that I predominantly use for the web, e-mail, Football Manager, script-writing in Celtx, video editing in Final Cut Studio and watching episodes of shows like Caprica that I’ve downloaded.

I own an iPhone 3G 8GB which takes care of my mobile audio and video needs, as well as giving me all of my e-mail from GMail and my personal domains where-ever I am. I sync what I need on a daily/weekly basis but rarely do I fill the device up with TV episodes or films.

So where does the iPad fit in then? For me, I’d prefer a lighter device for  watching video and browsing the web. If I’m on the move and I want to watch the latest Caprica instalment, I’d prefer not to watch it on a small mobile screen, and I don’t really want to take the laptop *everywhere*. I like the idea of picking up a lighter device in the morning to check The Guardian or edit my fantasy football team over breakfast. Staying in a Wi-Fi enabled hotel or over at a friends for the weekend? No need to bring the MBP and all the accessories; just grab the iPad and tap away.

Quick, simple and no need to constantly upset the video editing/gaming set-up on the desk. Granted, it is essentially a massive iPod Touch, and the eBook facility doesn’t interest me in the slightest, but as a media consumption and general communication tool I think it will blow almost everything else away.

I’m not an Apple fan boi by any stretch of the imagination, but I can see myself investing in the product and possibly buying my mother one to solve her ‘I need the internet in the lounge!’ complaints.

What do you think? Is it a waste of time or do you feel the iPad would enrich your media/communication experience?

One of the phenomenons of the last twelve months on the Interwebs has been the craze of people ‘rick rolling’ one another, that is, to trick one or more people into listening to or viewing Rick Astley’s ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ hit from the eighties.

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I don’t play video games anywhere near as much as I used to. Other than Football Manager 2009, I don’t have anything else to play, or really all that much free time to spend playing games. However, it’s nice to have a quick blast of something fun and easy to get into, which has led me to find the wonderful World of Goo, described by its creators ’2D Boy’ as:

…a physics based puzzle / construction game. The millions of Goo Balls who live in the beautiful World of Goo don’t know that they are in a game, or that they are extremely delicious.

World of Goo essentially asks you to build a structure made of Goo Balls to get as many of the rest of your Goo Balls from A to B, overcoming challenges and obstacles along the way. The less Goo Balls you use to build the structure, the more points you score due to there being more Goo Balls left at the end of the level.

This is from one of the early levels that are featured in the demo of the game that you can download. I urge you to try the game, even if gaming isn’t something you’ve traditionally been all that keen on. You’ll soon get addicted and want to get those Goo Balls across each level and continue to harder levels with more complex challenges. It doesn’t take a lot of skill with the mouse or keyboard, just a lot of thought!

Oh, and it’s currently available on a pay-what-you-like-for-it basis as the creators celebrate the game’s first birthday. So go and buy it now! I paid a few dollars for it myself.