We are heading out to the observatory

Leaving the executive meeting will be there at about 8 pm.

One of the problems with posting quick blog posts on the iphone continues to be my bad typing skills.

Unfortunately I can't edit the posts on google using the iphone and have to wait until later to edit them.

Hopefully I'll be little more careful with the iphone posts before posting them. Although there is a spell checker sometimes it will choose the wrong word and I may not catch it.

If I was using an iPad with it's bigger screen for on the run posts then I'd likely be spelling a little better. But of course the 3g version of the iPad will be a little pricey and with the data plan for 3g access being $14.99 or $30 a month, that's a little high for online access and posting a few posts to the internet. My thought is the 3g access might be a little over-rated to many at first, because it's adding another bill, like a cable bill or something. A person may not use the iPad on the run as much and may be sitting somewhere, because it's bigger. If they are near an open wifi, then they won't need the 3g access. It would be nice for gps routing while on the road, but it doesn't have a true GPS in it, and it's size might make it a better accessory for a passenger, not the driver. So it's a breakthrough product and could help me with on the fly posts, but it's size limits the quick access.

Another thing of course is the iPad is kind of like a laptop and an iphone, but it's not exactly like either one. Because it doesn't have a built in camera, and that would make it cumbersome, you can't take a quick video and post it. So you're still stuck with a separate camera. I've used an ipod Touch and they are pretty nice, but the iphone with online access is much more usable because obviously a person is on the move and you will not be staying in a wifi zone while moving about.

I hope that the iPad astronomy programs like StarMap Pro for iPad will have a manual over-ride for "location" settings that allows you to plug in the true GPS location and not rely on triangulation. It might not matter that much but it would be nice to have the exact location you are at, and if a serious astronomer has a iPad, they might already have the phone or other GPS co-ordinates and being able to "plug-in" the exact location (just as we can do to a modern goto mount) would be a plus. It might not matter that much for the actual star positions and how they are displayed. If you're off a little bit in your GPS position it might not make that big a deal. After all a few degrees is a long way on the ground but it's not going to change the visual view of the sky on you're display that much.