the Ipad2, a small review and critique

Kraellin · #1 07-27-2011, 11:03 PM

i recently bought an ipad2. at first i was impressed by what seemed like a really innovative new tool in the computer arena. i was on vacation at the time and hadnt brought my laptop with me as it would have been a pain to lug it around, but i wanted something. i had seen the ads for the ipad2 and decided to take the plunge.

at first, it was a lot of fun. it's small, lightweight, fast, and easy and intuitive to use... once you unlock it. yes, it has to be unlocked. you unlock it by putting itunes on another computer and connecting the ipad2 to that computer. it then does a whole registration thing and finally unlocks the ipad2. that's a complete pain in the butt and even insulting and even almost criminal. i just paid $700 for this thing and i cant use it unless i have another computer? that's just wrong and really annoying.

still, once i got it unlocked and running, this thing was pretty slick. it doesnt come with very many apps, but i got mine with wi-fi built in and could surf the internet almost anywhere, since wi-fi's hotspots are very common. i also got a couple passwords from friends to use their wi-fi connections. you can also get the ipad2 with 3gs built in.

so, i went ahead and set up an account with the apple store and downloaded some freebies and some pay-for apps. now, this was a bit surprising... most of the apps you pay for are less than $5 a piece and some of these are really good apps. sure, there's a lot of junk, so you just watch the ratings in the store. ok, so i was liking this, especially because it was so handy while i was out and about on vacation.

at one point i came home for a few days to pay bills, check on the cat and generally make sure the house hadnt blown up or anything and that's when the troubles started. i wanted to move files to and from the ipad2 and my pc.

the ipad2 has some serious drawbacks that arent apparent at first. i have the ipad2 and i'm frustrated constantly by it's unwillingness to share. moving photos to or from the ipad2 is a pain. you have to have itunes installed as it acts as the medium to facilitate transfers of data. but, if that's not odd enough, you have to have itunes installed just to unlock a new ipad2. and, itunes has to be installed on a regular computer, mac or pc. additionally, you can only 'sync' one file from your pc to your ipad2. syncing is a sort of temporary transfer system. if you want to sync another file or folder you have to erase the earlier one from the ipad2. this makes no sense whatsoever, but that's what it requires. thus, if you want to move photos from your pc to your ipad, they must all be in the same folder and you sync that folder, but if you want to move anything else to the ipad2, like your music files, you have to unsync the photos, which erases them from the ipad2. this is completely bonkers.

to further screw with you, once you move photos to the ipad2 from your pc, you cant move them back. so, you might have this really cool app for altering the photos somehow and you really like it and now you want to put it back on your pc, you cant. ok, you can, but you can only do it by emailing it from the ipad2 to your pc email.

and, if you want to move photos that were gathered or created on the ipad2 to begin with, it's a trick to download them to the pc and even trickier to view them. apparently the only pc program to currently be able to view apple's proprietary format is photoshop elements 8. now, i'm sure we all have the program, right? lol. you cant view them in paint shop pro nor in photoshop, itself.

when i first got the ipad2 i was impressed by how much they had packed into this little device. now, i'm seriously looking around for a better tablet. these restrictions are totally unnecessary. all i can think is that apple is somehow convinced that everyone is going to rush out and get their tablet and buy their apps and therefore they dont have to be compatible with anyone else... the world is supposed to be compatible to apple, not apple to the world. this always surprises me about apple. for a company that really does have some good creative ideas, they get totally whacko when it comes to opening up their market.

oh, and did i mention that you cant play anything with adobe flash on the ipad2? that means most of youtube is restricted. tons of web games are not available. tons of animations wont play. apple gets really retarded again. i'm seriously thinking of trading this thing in for a Samsung tablet. it's too bad, too. it really could have been the answer to a viable, compact, lightweight, seriously fast, affordable, mobile communication device, but with all these restrictions on files and file sharing and blocking flash stuff, the thing basically becomes a toy for buying apps from the apple store. granted, some of those apps are pretty cool, but i certainly dont want to be locked down to only that. so, apple once again does something totally cool and then shoots themselves in the foot doing it. i dont know who's running the company these days and setting these weird policies, but the board and shareholders might want to reevaluate their choice.

now, just in case i'm wrong, please tell me there's an easier way to move files and more than one file, back and forth between the two devices. i've looked at the apple site support stuff and from what all i read there and in the ipad2 manual, i've got it right, but i'd be happy to be wrong if someone knows a good way to do all this and bypass all those apple restrictions. i just hate goofy things like this.

anyways, that's my current take on the ipad2. it really is a slick device; just dont expect it to play well with the other children.

plugsnpixels · #2 07-28-2011, 01:42 AM

Good points, Craig, thanks for taking the time to write them up!

A couple of quick thoughts:

I think the upcoming iCloud service is meant to solve these syncing problems, relegating the computer to just another device, not the hub. I was also told early on in my own iPad experience that Dropbox was a viable option. But either of these options involves a lot of network activity, which I'm not keen on (I would love a USB cable or card slot...).

As for transferring photos, on the Mac one uses iPhoto (which I never use otherwise). My teenage daughter showed me how to do this-! Every time I want to transfer a new batch of PDFs to the iPad 2 I have to go get her.... And to think I've been using Macs for 20 years! But I agree, syncing is very dorky and spooks me every time. I keep a separate backup of my iTunes folder elsewhere in case the main folder gets synced into oblivion.

Oh, and then there are the various user accounts to deal with! We started out using my daughter's account and gift cards to stock up the iPad 1 and then I set up my own account, but I still come across apps I originally downloaded under her login.

iOS has a built-in YouTube app. I haven't noticed any restriction playing them. Flash, yes, but I only tend to see them on news websites.

Regardless of all this, Apple's business model is definitely working well for them, kicking the others' butts.

My daughter likes buying all sorts of games; I like the guitar and music apps (Garage Band is the best of them) and am exploring various photo apps (such as Snapseed). The iPad 2's poor camera really needs some serious artsy applied to the results...

(In your honor I just used my Apple-branded black cloth and shined up my iPad screen!)

Boneappetit · #3 07-28-2011, 08:08 AM

Buying an iPad was so far away from my plans, after reading your notes on the thing, it completely vanished... Thanx for posting, Craig !

Doug Nelson · #4 07-28-2011, 09:12 AM

I use dropbox to transfer anything and everything to my ipad. I have no use for itunes except to upgrade the os, and even that won't be necessary anymore after ios5. I also loathe Safari on the ipad, and replaced it with Atomic Browser. Kindle on the ipad is a joy to use, much better than even on the hardware Kindle.

dkcoats · #5 07-28-2011, 09:28 AM

Craig -
You might want to check out the HP (Palm) TouchPad. I don't have one (yet) but I have a Palm Pre+, which uses an earlier version of webOS, Palm's nifty open-source operating system. Moving files from computer to mobile device and vice versa is every bit as complicated as is it from computer to, say, a USB stick. You won't find the dizzying array of apps available for the iPad, but give it time - HP is devoting a fair amount of time and cash to supporting webOS (it's why they bought Palm) and there's an active community of homebrew webOS developers out there.

And you won't have to deal with Apple's snootiness.
(I also have an iPod Touch so I know some of what you're talking about. They don't make it easy.)

Tony W · #6 07-28-2011, 11:44 AM

Craig, thanks for your review and opinions. There are some things that do concern me about Apple products generally. The most important to me at least is that they do seem to be intent on locking out others or making life difficult to do what you want with their system. My experience of this I suppose is quite limited but purchased the iPod touch (some nice apps etc) really for the music content on the move - which is great. I also fully expected to be able to interface my small bluetooth gps unit and install apps - without success. My old HP PDA had no problems in communicating with the gps and running the required apps. Perhaps you just have to jailbreak the system to allow the functionality you want - just seems a shame to hamstring such a fine piece of technology

Kraellin · #7 07-29-2011, 02:02 PM

i shld, in all fairness, point out that the ipad2 is a good device. i've had no real trouble with it, no viruses (knock on wood), and there are some really cool apps at a very reasonable price. here's a list of some of my favorites in no particular order:

angry birds (all versions)
world of goo
Sid Meier's Pirates
Trenches
Pocket Organ
Garage Band (totally excellent!)
Army of Darkness
Mobile Monet HD
Auto Painter HD
9 Innings Pro Baseball 2011
Plants Vs. Zombies (hilarious)
Bejeweled 2

that's to name some of the better ones i've gotten so far. again, there's a bunch of freebies and a lot of junk. do be aware of the freebies. make sure there arent a lot of hidden pay-for type inclusions. it's ok if there are as long as you're aware of them. some get a bit sneaky with this, so just pay attention and read the blurbs in the app store carefully.

some of the games, i believe can be played multiplayer. havent tried that yet, so cant really report on that.

i also just bought a 5 in 1 plug in gadget, a hardware thing, that allows to use the apple port for SD card reading, so i shld be able to make file transfers easier when that gets here. it also has a usb port, a video out port (vga) and i think another type of card reader... not sure on that last one. one cool thing with adding a usb port is that i'll be able to plug a full sized keyboard into the port and use it with the ipad2. that will be nice when i'm home.

so, you may have noticed that a lot of my apps up there are games. again, because of the limits apple imposes on file transfers, i find that the productivity side of things is rather difficult and limited, so, even though i bought some graphic apps and like them, it's just currently too difficult to move them around. moving bulk files by email is a pain. posting them all up on facebook or some other site just so i can download them to my pc is also a pain. and, with folks ripping off images on sites like facebook and trying to sell them as their own, this really isnt a very viable option.

doug mentioned Dropbox as a means of syncing and transfering files. there is also DoubleTwist that supposedly does this. i couldnt find out how. it seemed to only want to work with the android phone stuff. and not having used Dropbox myself, i would warn folks to be aware that loading images and files up to an internet site doesnt guarantee that that site is reputable and trustworthy. read any EULA (end user license agreements) particularly concerning copyrights and releases to use and so forth. being that it's doug that's recommending it, i'm guessing it's probably a decent site, but read the stuff yourself.

if this little 5 in 1 device works like i hope it will, my file transfer problems will be minimized, but i'm still at a loss with apple over this lack of ports of different types. it just really does seem stingy and close-minded. i'm all for them protecting their products, but disallowing certain standard computer features is just silly and a bit backwards.

anyways, i will be looking at HP's tablet, samsung's and any others i happen to run across. if you've got a favorite, write it up and help out an old moderator

Doug Nelson · #8 07-29-2011, 02:14 PM

Have you tried any of the Photoshop apps?

Kraellin · #9 07-29-2011, 02:26 PM

i havent seen any photoshop apps, so far, and if Elements is on there, i'm certainly not paying full retail price for this on the ipad2 if i cant move files off the thing more easily. we'll see when my new 5 in 1 gets here. but, since you've mentioned it, i'll post this post and go see what i can find.

Doug Nelson · #10 07-29-2011, 02:46 PM

I'm talking about the Photoshop remote control apps. There's one for painting, one for mapping commands, and another that I forget the purpose (color mixing, I think).

Also, I took a pair of old powered computer speakers I had gathering dust on a shelf and bungied them to the sides of my exercise machine. Now I can plug in my ipad and watch Netflix with good (and loud) stereo to distract me while I exercise. If you're an HBO subscriber, I can strongly recommend the HBOGO app to supplement Netflix (Netflix has no HBO programming).

Kraellin · #11 07-29-2011, 03:05 PM

ok, i forgot that i actually have a photoshop app on the ipad2. it's called photoshop express. it's pretty basic stuff, crop, contrast, brightness, straighten, rotate, flip, exposure, saturation tint, black and white, sketch, soft focus, sharpen, reduce noise, and some effects and borders. no layers or anything, but at whatever i paid for it (less than $5), it's a decent app. just dont expect the full blown photoshop.

there are some tutorials for cs5. there's also a PSD file viewer app, but the only actual program for editing i see is photoshop express. i'm a little surprised by this.

i specifically checked for Elements. there's something there for Elements 8 and 9, but it's in german or something and has someone else's name on it than adobe, so i'm guessing that's another tutorial app. as i find interesting things and try them out, i'll post more.

Doug Nelson · #12 07-29-2011, 03:15 PM

http://www.photoshop.com/products/mobile/nav
http://www.photoshop.com/products/mobile/eazel
http://www.photoshop.com/products/mobile/colorlava

creativeretouch · #13 07-30-2011, 04:27 AM

If you are on Mac you should be able to set up sharing within your public folder via wifi ... (System Preferences - File Sharing on)

plugsnpixels · #14 07-30-2011, 12:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by creativeretouch

If you are on Mac you should be able to set up sharing within your public folder via wifi ... (System Preferences - File Sharing on)

I've got File Sharing on and see other desktops on the home network but not the iPad. What else must be done?

chillin · #15 07-30-2011, 03:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by plugsnpixels

I've got File Sharing on and see other desktops on the home network but not the iPad. What else must be done?

Use dropbox, 2GB free.

Kraellin · #16 07-30-2011, 05:19 PM

thank you for those links, doug! i went ahead and downloaded eazel. i also ordered one of these: http://www.nomadbrush.com/ . i bought the long tip original. i'll let you know how it works when it gets here.

i also found artrage on the apple apps store and bought it. i think it was $4.99 or $5.99. it's the full deal, not a lite version. i was a bit surprised to find it, especially at that price. somehow it's seems a little less intuitive than the pc version, but that could be that my pc version isnt the full version.

so, here's my next warning to folks. these apps are cheap, relatively speaking, and as such you can end up spending a ton of money, thinking, oh, i'm not spending that much on this one. after buying 20 of those... lol.

plugs, i'm not sure what else must be done. there is no 'system preferences' on the ipad2, nor any 'public folder' that i can see. wi-fi is built in, however and there's a reference to cs5 and being able to connect directly to cs5 from the ipad2. i think it's the nav app that does this (the one doug linked to). i would think that if you have a router and your ipad2 and pc are both linked through there, you shld be able to communicate somehow, but that may be a router setting or maybe something internal to the pc or ipad2 or both... not sure. but, if i could link directly to my pc from the ipad2 that would certainly make file transfers easier. i'd have a little wi-fi lan.

creativeretouch · #17 07-31-2011, 03:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by plugsnpixels

I've got File Sharing on and see other desktops on the home network but not the iPad. What else must be done?

I don't think you will be able to see iPad from your computer. But you should be able to see your computer from iPad. If you open System Preferences and highlight File Sharing (on the computer) it will give you an IP address you will need to connect to. I tried this with iPhone and it was working. But I don't remember if I used preferences on iPhone or downloaded a dedicated application ... It was working with PDF files and it was pretty fast.

Edit:

I found this link, perhaps it helps: http://www.macworld.com/article/1598...transfers.html

CJ Swartz · #18 07-31-2011, 10:23 PM

Craig - when I first started using my iPod Touch, I emailed my photos and videos created on the iPod to myself so I could use them on my computer - not the best solution but workable. I don't understand you having trouble viewing the images - the iPod creates jpg photo files and .mov video files which are easily viewed. In fact, they are viewable on the iPod (which is basically a small iPad as far as I understand) by Windows Explorer in the DCIM folder within the device which shows up along with my hard drives/card reader drives under My Computer. I've read that the iPad works this way also.

It's been a while since I added most of the photos on my iPod from my computer (my main interest - so that I could show them to people when I'm visiting away from home), but I remember syncing them via ITunes and was able to sync a bunch of them once I figured out how to do it. ITunes isn't my favorite software, either, but I'm not sure why it's on so many people Hate List. To make the moving of photo files easier back/forth from the IOS devices, there are apps available that match up to software that runs on the PC - two of them (one free and the other $1.99) are Cinq Photo and PhotoSync. You have to create an account (free, but bothersome) for each of them, but that's SOP for most apps. I only have tried Cinq Photo a couple of times, but it doesn't seem to offer as much as PhotoSynch - but I may have missed its functions. It was mentioned on iPad Today, a podcast by Leo LaPorte and Sarah Lane - which brings up one of my favorite things about the new devices - video podcasts and other video educational content. Although now I prefer to watch them on my TV while being streamed from my Apple TV device.

I watch iPad Today each week (along with TWIT Photo, KelbyTV 's numerous shows and others etc.) I could watch them on my desktop, on my iPod or on my tv. I signed up for Kelby Training and use the iPod app to stream to my Apple TV to my TV. The new world is cool !! Not perfect, but cool.

Leo says if you add Go to My PC to your iPad - it will let you do everything you do on your desktop on your iPad - I haven't confirmed that yet.

Some might find this guy's article of interest:
http://maketecheasier.com/can-ipad-t...ter/2011/07/20

Kraellin · #19 07-31-2011, 11:33 PM

CJ,

when i first tried to download pictures from the ipad2 to the pc, all i got were .ithmb file extension files that couldnt be read by anything i owned on the pc. and i got that by using itunes. apple, somewhere in all this mess, mentioned that the only thing that would read these files was Elements 8. well, that sucked. i'm not going out to buy a lesser program than cs2 just to read apple's goofy files. so, you say the ipad2 shld save its files in .jpeg, but it didnt seem to.

to try and fix this mess, i googled my problem and found out there's a lot of folks out there with the same problem and there were some workarounds but they involved a fair amount of pc command line work and i wasnt interested in that, either. this just seemed extremely goofy on apple's part. where were the ports for making this all a tiny bit easier?

so, i ordered that 5 in 1 reader. that will be here later in the coming week. in the meantime, i read creativeretouch's last post and remembered that my internet comes in to my router. i have wi-fi internet. i also realized that i shld be able to move files from one computer to another through a router, so i did a little exploring on the pc and found some help. it seems that if you turn on file streaming locally that one computer can read all your picture and music and videos from the other by using windows media player. so, i turned it on and with a little tweaking and fooling around, lo and behold, i found, on my pc, the pictures from the ipad2!

now, that seems like i've solved it, right? lol. i wish. if i scroll through all my thousands of picture files while connected to the ipad2, the ipad2 pictures seem to disappear. to get them to show again, i have to kill windows media player and find the ipad2 pictures again. lol. dont ask me why, that's just what happens. but, i can see them and they are now located in a folder on my pc and i can open them in paint shop pro!!

so, i'm not very savvy on network stuff. i've fumbled around with local networking in the past and managed to connect two pcs before for brief periods. i seem to also, now, seem to have managed to establish a nebulous wi-fi connection between the pc and the ipad2. it's quirky, but it's gotten me at least some of the pictures off the ipad2, those in the camera roll file. the other pics that i put on the ipad2 from the pc did NOT transfer back to the pc with the wifi connection, so there's still more to figure out here, but at least i got some results. lol.

they keep trying to make these things 'user friendly', but frankly we're a long ways off from 'computer, tea, hot, earl gray'

oh, and thank you, creativeretouch, for steering me closer to an overall solution

CJ Swartz · #20 07-31-2011, 11:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kraellin

... remembered that my internet comes in to my router. i have wi-fi internet. i also realized that i shld be able to move files from one computer to another through a router, so i did a little exploring on the pc and found some help. it seems that if you turn on file streaming locally that one computer can read all your picture and music and videos from the other by using windows media player. so, i turned it on and with a little tweaking and fooling around, lo and behold, i found, on my pc, the pictures from the ipad2!

now, that seems like i've solved it, right? lol. i wish. if i scroll through all my thousands of picture files while connected to the ipad2, the ipad2 pictures seem to disappear. to get them to show again, i have to kill windows media player and find the ipad2 pictures again. lol. dont ask me why, that's just what happens. but, i can see them and they are now located in a folder on my pc and i can open them in paint shop pro!!

I guess there may be some differences between the ipod/ipad besides size, but I had thought that you had set up a wireless connection when you first got the iPad - it was just part of my initial setup of the iPod to connect to my wi-fi network. I didn't know that it would work without it. I have a desktop computer, a router bought in anticipation of the iPod, and a netbook on my wi-fi network and the iPod is attached to that to pick up the internet, the news/weather and other things including the Apps Store at iTunes so that I can download my new apps. Have you taken hundreds of photos with your iPad?! I have take some with the iPod but mostly just to try it out. I have used the video function which is pretty good, but too wide angle for my tastes. As I said, most of the photos on my iPod are uploads from my computer so that I can have them with me like a photo wallet.

Good luck with your solutions.

creativeretouch · #21 08-01-2011, 08:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kraellin

oh, and thank you, creativeretouch, for steering me closer to an overall solution

you are welcome, Craig

CJ Swartz · #22 08-02-2011, 02:45 PM

Export from Lightroom to your iPad or iPod - worked for me, even with the small memory in my iPod - I hadn't set up album folders before, and I like it.

http://lightroomsecrets.com/2010/07/...ith-lightroom/

...In the Export Location section choose Specific Folder for the Export To value. Click the Choose button and find the folder you created above. Now check the Put In Subfolder checkbox and enter the name for your album in the field. In the File Naming section set up any filename parameters you like. Leave the remainder of the settings in the preset as they are. Press the Export button.
Each album will assume the name of the folder you export the images to.

Kraellin · #23 08-09-2011, 10:17 PM

ok, i got all the devices i ordered and all i can say is, i'm not going to review these things, apple is retarded and go buy a samsung or hp tablet. lol. none of this worked to download from the ipad2 to the pc. you still have to go through itunes and apple is both greedy and retarded. sorry, i dont usually call folks or companies names, but apple's decision to close thing up and isolate itself from the rest of the computing world is just retarded. apps that i bought from the apple store i cant download saved files to my pc and share them with others. this is just frustrating beyond belief. i love apple's innovations and creative nature, but their zenophobia is beyond belief. no one enters or leaves their universe and that's just retarded. the potential of this thing is wonderful... until you want to play outside the apple-verse and then it just closes itself off to everyone and everything outside itself. open the damn doors, apple! you've got a good product. let the world play!

plugsnpixels · #24 08-09-2011, 11:24 PM

The Hotel Applefornia!

Do you think the iCloud will help this situation any?

As for not being able to share apps (I think that's what you were describing), that's a means of fighting piracy (one must authenticate to the MAS to launch them). Of course people get around that, but it's an attempt on their part.

Kraellin · #25 08-09-2011, 11:45 PM

no, i'm not referring to the apps themselves. i'm perfectly fine with them staying on the ipad2. it's the results of the apps or things captured with the ipad2 that i'm talking about. an example, i love garageband. this is a brilliant app! but, you cant export your work from it to anything that a pc can use by itself. you can export it to itunes as an itunes song, an AAC file, or as a garageband file that only itunes can play or another mac can play. so, this isnt a piracy issue if another mac can use it. this is an applefornia issue. that everything exported MUST go through itunes is just apple being apple. in fact, everything imported must also go through itunes. this is apple's way of saying you must buy apple and you must stay within the apple-verse to use anything apple, even files that you've created that shld be in standard formats.

and i do like your 'applefornia'

plugsnpixels · #26 08-09-2011, 11:53 PM

Ah. In the particular case of GB, it often helps to get it onto the Mac for further work anyway. Such as in this case:

I created the basis for this song backing in GB on the iPad (I do not sing so that part is missing, even though I wrote the song!) and dolled it up even further on the desktop using loops from the library and such.

But i think purchased apps other than GB might let you export straight to mp3 from the iPad.

Kraellin · #27 08-10-2011, 12:11 AM

ok, i finally found out how to do it. it's not exactly straight forward. i used the export feature in GB and exported to itunes rather than garageband format. then i hooked up the ipad to the pc. this starts up the whole itunes sync thing. i didnt have to sync it. if you go to 'your ipad' and then pick 'apps' you have to scroll down and find where it says 'file sharing'. you may also have to turn on 'home sharing', i'm not sure on that part. once you find 'file sharing', below that it will show you what apps will share/export files. GB is one of them. you can then pick GB and it will show you what files you've got stored in GB and allow you to then 'save to...'. this wil save it to your pc. the file extension of the 'itunes' format is .m4a, which windows media player can read and play. sheesh, what a pain! lol.

ok, thanks for listening to my rant, plugs and for helping out

Kraellin · #28 08-10-2011, 12:13 AM

btw, nice song

plugsnpixels · #29 08-10-2011, 12:37 AM

Thanks!

I do agree, syncing is a bit convoluted. Even adding PDFs to the iPad to read is a pain. I want to just drag them from the Finder onto the iPad section in iTunes, but there's some other approach you have to take (also involving iTunes). Usually takes me a few tries to get it right since I don't do it often. And all these years I've had no use for iPhoto until now, but I have to use it if I ever expect to get pix on and off the iPad. I really do need to bother to learn how Dropbox works in this case...

It's like some tech support phone person asked my father once: "Is there a younger person there I can talk to?"

Kraellin · #30 08-18-2011, 10:38 PM

i have no idea how it got there, but my music from my pc has suddenly showed up on the ipad2. lol. maybe it got there long ago and maybe only recently. it's a complete mystery to me. it was also in a folder i wasnt expecting it to be in. it was in the "iPod" folder. weird.

also, there is a very cute game i recently downloaded to the ipad2. it has both a free and a pay-for version. it's called "Alchemy". you start with four icons, the old base elements of fire, earth, air and water. you drag and drop these over each other to create new elements. water and earth makes a swamp, for example. fire and air makes energy. the game is to simply keep making new elements. there are hundreds in the current version and i see room for more. it's a very simple game and there are cheat sheets online if you want them, but that does spoil the whole thing now, doesnt it.

it's a very cute, simple game. there's no animations or fancy graphics or sound. you just drag and drop one 'element' over another to make new ones. i've already created some really odd ones, like flu, frankenstein, a chicken, lichen, an idea, and there are many more possible. a few didnt make very much sense to me and some i thought sure would work, didnt. oh well. still, i like it. it's deceptively clever and you'll find yourself banging your head on the desk trying to figure out more and more. ya know you've found a good game when you have bumps on your noggin from it

i also found another one i like, 'Ticket to Ride'. this is a railroad baron type game and can be played solo or with other players. i'll save the explanation here. you can always go look it up on the app store