Been watching the build-up and hype for weeks. At the announcement, to my (and a lot of folks) surprise, there was no pre-orders. This is unlike the release last year of the first gen iPad.

But, unlike last year, the actual release was only a week away, as opposed to the 30-days. That seemed to increase the hype in the compressed time from announce to release.

At midnight on the 11th, I was online and had a white 64GB 3G (GSM) in my cart. But the 3-5 business day delivery didn’t sit well. After pondering for a while, I decided to take my chance locally at Best Buy at 17:00 on Friday.

I went to the Dimond Center on Friday. Taking a few breaks, I wandered by BB and AT&T a few times. Found out AT&T had a “very limited supply” and BB will hand out tickets in the line.

Finally went back down about 4:00. Talked to Ben who gave me the skinny. Get in line, get a voucher, and at 5:00 they will let people in. The line was just around the corner outside, BUT, I didn’t have my jacket!

So I ran to the office and retrieved that, and in the short time to get back to “the line” I was WAY back. Ben had said they had about 100 left of different models, but I didn’t push for specifics. I tried to do a quick count of the line from where I was, WAY back. I was probably within the 100, but would they have the one I wanted.

They came through the waiting crowd and made an announcement. They would start passing out vouchers, and go back the line at 4:30. They would start selling at 5:00.

By the time they got somewhere close to where I could see, they made another announcement and said they would be moving the line forward as folks were going to be entering the store. The vouchers would resume at the door.

I was about 10-20 back at that point. It was right at 5:00.

Got to within about 5-7 from the head of the line and they made another announcement. There are no more 32 or 64GB iPads, in either white or black. They had 16GB 3G and some wi-fi versions still available. Skunked!!!

So I broke out of line and hurried to AT&T. Was only a small line. I was talking to a guy in front of me who had also been to BB. He was still trying to decide which model he wanted. I mentioned my experience using the 64GB and it sounded like a 32 would probably suit him just fine. About that time, 5:07PM, they made the announcement that there were no more iPads, but that they could order for you. Dammit, denied again!

I went back upstairs to the office. My MBP was still plugged in. A quick link to the Apple store still showed two to three weeks delivery. I went ahead and picked the white, 64GB 3G (AT&T) model, and the accessories. Got confirmation yesterday that the AppleCare “shipped” and next saw that the cover had also shipped. Should arrive Monday or Tuesday…

I just hope the supply chain in China is cranking them out (as I know they are) and the iPad will only be a couple of weeks behind.

In the end, that 3-5 business days doesn’t look so bad now… In this case, I gambled and lost.

– Posted from my iPad…

So I set out to investigate printing from my iPads. I tried several no-cost options and was reluctant to spend money on an app that may, or may not, work. I tried the CUPS mods from Terminal, the free AirPrint Activator (and even the former AirPrint Hacktivator) but none worked with my wireless (not physically connected to a Mac, or PC) WF600.

I did have success, albeit limited, with PrintJinni. At least I knew it was possible to print from the iPad to my WF600. But the limited ability, and the need to print via an attachment to an IMAP email account wasn’t palatable. Sure, if I could get nothing else to work, it would be better than nothing. But what about printing in the office and elsewhere…?

Then I came across a site that reviewed several options to allow the printing that Apple stifled (for whatever reason.) It seemed there was good press and user reviews for PrintCentral. While researching that app, I discovered PrintBureau. Now I was on to something!!! And, from what I could tell, it really did seem to work!

Of course, for the price ($12.99!), I was still reluctant to give it a try. My lack of success with CUPS printing was in the back of my mind. Sure PrintJinni worked, but what if PrintCentral or PrintBureau didn’t work any better than that free app?

Upon further research, I saw a comparison between PrintCentral and the EuroSmartz PrintBureau. I liked that direct comparison between the different versions of similar software. I saw the major differences were nullified with an in-app purchase. However, it seemed to make more sense to just purchase PrintBureau from the start. I’m glad I did!

The app does take quite a bit of time to configure and explore. It certainly provides $12.99 worth of extra value, and bells and whistles. The ability to write directly to a PDF on the device, by itself easily makes the extra $3 over PrintCentral a smart buy, at least in my opinion.

Just a bit of frustration was involved when I tried to setup my wireless Epson WF600. The app “discovered” my wireless printer. Great! Then, when attempting to do the “test” prints, all I could accomplish successfully was the plain text printing. Graphics, in any mode, were non-existent… That is, until I pressed the “More” button. It was then that I saw the first choice in selecting my printer – Epson specific was at the top of the list. Several other printer manufacturers were listed as well. Once I selected “Epson” (in my case) all the printing issues went away.

All in all, I highly recommend this app, if for nothing but the ability to print to ALL printers (in some fashion) and create PDFs. The additional features are almost overwhelming, and I am sorry to say I haven’t explored them fully. But accessing the iPad as an external “drive”, the links to the cloud, etc., all add more than enough value to justify the price, even if you only scratch the surface.

In summary, this is what I envisioned printing to be on the iPad. (And, I guess it works on the iPhone as well, although IMHO, that is a stretch.) The $12.99 price tag is almost outrageous, but it does what it says, and there doesn’t seem to be anything close to matching it’s capabilities at this time.

– Posted from my iPad…

So, after all this time, I find that I don’t use 3G. I didn’t even “subscribe” this last month, and barely used tens of megabytes out of the 2GB I receive for $25USD from AT&T.

I thought that 2GB would be nowhere near enough. I have found, and again verified this month (via the data use on the iPhone 4), that it is probably enough (in most cases.) I used somewhere around 1GB on the iPhone, to date, for November.

So, does that hold true for the iPad. I reason that you could (if that was the only device for surfing, etc.) certainly use more than 2GB. I will do a test, starting at the first of the month, to see the “realistic” data use I could expect. I’ll activate 3G again, and take it from there…

Of course, your mileage may vary… But I will check back at the end of December to see where I end up.

– Posted from my iPad…

Location:Anchorage, Alaska

I let my GF borrow my iPad when she took a trip to visit family in California and Washington. After seeing mine when we met for breakfast one morning, she was really enamored. I knew she really wanted one, but was hoping I could hold out until Christmas. Anyway, that wasn’t to be.

We looked for the longest time, and here in Anchorage they were sold out everywhere. They were still on backorder at Apple online, too, with a 7-10 day wait.

In the meantime, I told her she should wait and not run out and buy one. I would be more than willing to let her borrow mine when she went on her trip.

So we loaded the 64 GB WiFi version up with all sorts of movies. Far more than you could ever watch on the airplane or during the vacation in general. I’ll bet there were 30 movies, and a ton of music videos. Plus the general apps and other “stuff”.

Off she went… That was more than a month ago. Still no iPad. She said, “hey, I need to bring back your iPad.” No problem, just keep it; I wasn’t using it. )

So with my upcoming trip, I really wanted to travel with the iPad. However, the difference here — it sure would be nice to have the 3G version. When she came by the other day, all forlorn, ‘uh, I brought back your iPad, but really thought you would just buy a new one’; well that was all it took. An early Christmas present, almost new!

And for me, well, Best Buy had the 64 GB + 3G in stock! So we all come out a winner.

Just for fun, I am typing this on my “new” iPad, with the BT keyboard I never used. Everything works out…

– Posted from my iPad…

The other item of note is that this post is from my new iPad.

I’ve had the device since Monday, and really haven’t played with it that much. I did try to get it setup, added or upgraded a few apps, watched a movie via Netflix, and looked around for tips and tricks as well as productivity apps.

Still have a ways to go, but I will admit now that this on-screen keyboard (in portrait mode here) really works quite well.

Lots more to explore, but two thumbs up (and maybe a high-five if this posts!). I’m sure I’ll post more thoughts as time goes on.

– Posted from my iPad…

When I saw the iPad in Anchorage, I thought I might have a chance to snag it today.  My fear was I would try to out guess UPS and sit at the office all day waiting, when they had no intention of showing because they “knew” the office was closed on Saturday.

However, I watched closely, looking for “news” that it was on the truck for delivery, just like (my favorite) FedEx does.  Well, when it didn’t show for a few hours I stood down from making a quick run to the office. I really quit watching the status and settled back to read reviews and get ready for Monday.  Well, wouldn’t you know it, there was an attempt today!  No word it was on the truck or anything.  That was at 13:29…

Missed my iPad, since the office was closed.

So, after about ten minutes trying to find a phone number (they really don’t want you to call) I finally found one.  Surprisingly it answered right away and there was no hold. (I guess it is Saturday, and they really make it difficult to even find a number, so that probably isn’t surprising after all; they don’t have many callers.)

Spoke to a nice agent who offered to look up the tracking info and let me know if the “2nd attempt” would be today (Saturday) or next business day, Monday. The latter was my guess, and that was confirmed.

Oh well, back to reading the reviews and finding out what others think of theirs… Looking forward to Monday once again.

But in any event, my iPad is “officially” in Anchorage! According to UPS tracking info, and information from FlightAware, the package was on UPS80, a 747-400 that arrived at PANC at 07:27. I’ve looked at the information, after an hour, and my guess is they won’t even put it on the truck today. However, if I see a change in status, I’ll definitely make a run for the office. It would be worth a gamble, just in case.

Here is the UPS information:

UPS tracking info for my iPad

UPS Flight 80 - KSDF to PANC - 2010-04-03

Above is the FlightAware information for UPS80.

On Wednesday afternoon, I went to show a guy at work my status, and lo-and-behold, the billing information date showed April 1, and that it had not left China. Origin scan still shows 18:11, March 29 in Shenzhen.

On Thursday, the information changed to show billing information received April 2, with the origin scan still March 29 at 18:11. Thursday evening, Alaska time, the update shows a departure scan on April 2, 16:10 in Guangzhou.

Now, I believe, *someone* is willfully manipulating shipping / tracking data. UPS will depot the iPads, such as in Anchorage, or your local hub, to clear Customs and stage for release on the third. I don’t care mine is sitting; Apple set the expectation of receiving on April 3.

The fact that it’s staged doesn’t bother me. UPS, as does FedEx, have the facilities to depot large shipments such as this… What is most disconcerting is the manipulation of the shipping data for whatever reason. The ability to do this makes ALLshipping tracking info suspect in my opinion from this point forward.

If they want to “play games” and build the suspense, or for any other reason, manipulation of the data is wrong. The delivery date is out there, live with it. I strongly suspect UPS may have had a hand in this, probably more so than Apple. Can you imagine their hubs and depots being deluged by anxious recipients knowing their iPads where behind closed doors at their local UPS hub, and wanting to pick it up early?

In any case, I ordered mine around 05:45 Alaska time on March 12. I guess it was too early and I didn’t realize April 3 was a Saturday. I had it delivered to the office, which isn’t open on Saturday, and so I won’t get mine until the 5th anyhow…

I have the tracking info, and it was “picked up” at 18:11 on March 29 in Shenzhen. Supposed to be delivered “by April 3.”

Unfortunately I had mine delivered to the office along with all of the accessories I ordered. I wasn’t sure how to handle that when I placed the original order. Over this past weekend, I thought of calling Apple today (Monday, the 29th) and having the address changed to the house. At first I didn’t realize that April 3 was on a Saturday. Then they beat me to the punch and shipped before I could call.

So, when it’s all said and done, I probably won’t have mine until the 5th. Oh well, those sly devils… But I’m not going to go sit at the office all day on Saturday, waiting for UPS. I did that once before and they never showed; they said they knew it was an office and no one would be there on a Saturday, so didn’t attempt delivery.

Oh well, soon enough… But I really can’t wait to see the device.