I made a strategic decision this past week. I’m going to attempt to work “in the cloud” for a few weeks and months to see how it goes. And… so… I purchased an iPad for the trip. I settled on the 32gb Wi-Fi version as I have an iPhone and do not need another monthly bill.
While I have a powerful new MacBook pro with all the goodies, it’s a bit overkill for my current situation. Limited employment. It’s going to be for sales soon, hint-hint, but in the mean time, I’ve switched everything to my old Macbook —which I’ve had issues in the past, like crashing consistently over-heating, but generally reliable— like our Infiniti, it’s paid for, has seen better days and is “functional”.
What’s up with the “cloud” thing? Unless you’ve been living in a cave, technically speaking, cloud computing is a term that seems to be getting traction at all levels of discussion. Rather than store everything down on a local laptop, work exclusively on a local computing device, doing and working “in the cloud” is the future. It’s currently riddled with lots of speed bumps, curves and dead ends, cloud computing is am emerging technological direction that’s unavoidable.
If you happen to be reading this post and sniggering, think about this; everything you post on Facebook is “in the cloud”. All of your Google email, is “in the cloud”. If you work for a company that uses “SalesForce”, you’re working “in the cloud”, and so it goes.
Therefore, I’m moving as much as I can to this ethereal “cloud” and going to attempt to live and work online from the iPad for the most part. There are still obstacles, road-blocks and curvy roads ahead to be sure, but I believe I’ll be able to accomplish what I currently need without a full fledged “laptop” or heavy duty computer.
What I do today:
- I read the news, online of course.
- I check my email, respond and look at links in emails.
- I write, a lot actually. Like I’m working on a book, have several blogs that keep me busy, write articles and other freelance work.
- I’m networking, ie… looking for full time employment.
- I go to seminars, meet ups and sit in on webinars (take notes)
- I research all kinds of things
- I check Facebook and LinkedIn every once in a while.
- Sort through my contacts and build a spreadsheet or two.
- Fulfill my duties as president of our HOA. (IE… write letters, go check on maintenance work and send e-mails.)
- Generate great documents, export them to PDF for others.
- Keep my Resume updated.
- Apply for jobs online.
- Read PDFs
… so, for the most part, these activities do not take a powerful computer. Just access to email, gmail, writing tools & spreadsheet tools (ala Pages, spreadsheets, ala Numbers) and a web browser.
And, that’s about it.
Things I don’t do:
- Write code. (Although, I’ve thought about it and have a few iPad & iPhone ideas kicking around in my head.)
- Tinker with the OS any more, like the old days, well, of course if I used XP or Win7, then I’d be tinkering all the time, frustrated, throwing things etc…, but I don’t, so that’s over.
- I don’t play games. Well, I do mess with a few freebies, but it’s not a core care or concern.
- Build web sites, or ones that take a lot of effort.
Things I think I’ll miss.
- Photo management – I’ll work something out, but it’s not highest priority, just a nicety. I love iPhoto, but with only 32gb of storage, not going to keep my collection on the iPad. Old Mac will work, i think.
- Graphical design application, Fireworks – I love this application, but use it only when I need. Not a show stopper. I’ll push myself to explore this more once I “need” to. Probably look at a few editors on the iPad.
- Scrivener – I use a great little application for my creative writing. This is the single biggest stumbling block I’m having, but it’s more mental than actual, because everything can be done with Pages files. (Good iPad application is floating around in my head on this one.)
(BTW… this entire post was written on the iPad using the free WordPress tool and the docking keyboard, I also purchased with the iPad.)
… stay tuned.
