Geekery

The known universe

Posted on 01. Feb, 2010 by Jake.

I was going to post one of the many YouTube clips I’ve seen today either dismissing the iPad as useless or proclaiming it to be the saviour of all mankind, but then I had a dramatic and monumental epiphane:

There is more to life than the iPad.

This clip takes you on an impressive and comprehensive tour of our known universe. It uses the world’s most complete four-dimensional map of the universe, the Digital Universe Atlas, which is maintained and updated by astrophysicists at the American Museum of Natural History.

Every star, planet, and quasar seen in the film is possible because of the world’s most complete four-dimensional map of the universe, the Digital Universe Atlas that is maintained and updated by astrophysicists at the American Museum of Natural History.

The new film, created by the Museum, is part of an exhibition, Visions of the Cosmos: From the Milky Ocean to an Evolving Universe, at the Rubin Museum of Art in Manhattan through May 2010.

Most importantly, it offers a reminder that there are things that are bigger than us, and more important than us, and certainly bigger and more important than the iPad. Enjoy.

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The obligatory iPad post

Posted on 28. Jan, 2010 by Jake.

Ok, so it’s actually here, the device that, as a friend of mine put it, ‘will change the way people wildly speculate about new technology before it is even actually released’.

Now that it’s out, the question is, is it all that? We have crazed fans in one corner declaring it a work of unmitigated genius, and haters in the other pointing out that, as far as they can see, it’s like an iPhone, only bigger. What do I think? The truth is probably somewhere between these two opinions.

The main thing to remember is that the iPad is still a baby. When the developers start working with it and for it, real innovations will start taking place. For now, even those who want a Wi-fi model will have to wait until March, and those after the 3G version will have to wait until April. And it won’t stay at $500 forever. For now it is, in my humble opinion, a beautiful and innovative machine that not a hell of a lot of people will have a use for. Yet.

Oh, and we’re South Africans, remember. So all we can do for now is speculate and dream. The dang thing ain’t even available here yet, and who knows when it will be.

Anyway, here are some pros and cons, which I’ve have based on extensive internet research:

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