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I mentioned last week that I had a new gadget to show you. The item in question is an iPad. I’ve had it almost three weeks now and it is AWESOME.
I thought I’d share some screenshots from iPad to show you how I’ve been using it so far. As you’d expect, I’ve mainly been browsing the internet and emailing. It’s great that I can dip in and out quickly without having to boot up my laptop.
It’s also very good for social media. I’ve downloaded the Twitter app (I tried several others, such as Tweetdeck and Sociable, but they kept crashing) and I keep track of blogs using Pulse. I found the mobile version of Google Reader difficult to use.
The other main use I’m going to make of iPad is as a reader. Zinio is a free app which allows you to purchase and read magazines, including international titles. I haven’t found many knitting apps for iPad, but GoodReader is fab for storing and reading PDF knitting patterns.
I’ve mainly got reading and photography apps on the second screen (below). I downloaded iBooks, but I have to say I prefer the Kindle app. The books are much cheaper in the Amazon Kindle store than on iTunes, for a start. I’m a massive book geek, so I will still be buying hard copy books for those titles I’ll want to keep and read again. However, my bookshelves are overflowing, so ebooks are a good solution for modern fiction that I might only want to read once. I downloaded The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo from Kindle for £2.68 and so far I’m enjoying reading it on screen.
I’ve yet to play around with the photography apps, so I’ll post about those another time. However, Guardian Eyewitness is fantastic. It’s a free app containing photos from The Guardian’s stock library, with comments and tips from the photographers who took the shots. There are some amazing photos in the collection, it’s so inspiring.
I love Pocket Pond, although it is kind of silly. It’s exactly what it sounds like – a pond containing fish. If you touch the screen, it ripples the surface of the water and the fish swim away. It’s strangely compelling!
I have a third screen which contains games apps, but it’s also a dumping ground for apps I’m not sure about, so I won’t show you that. Labyrinth HD is ace – you have to roll a metal ball around a maze by tilting iPad, to get the ball into a hole at the end. The sound is great – it really sounds like a metal ball rolling on wood (little things please me!).
I’ve never been an Mac user and I will stick with my PC/laptop as my main computer. However, I’m loving iPad beyond measure. It’s light enough to tote around (although not super light) and the HD touch screen is amazing. I wondered if I would carry on using my iPod Touch, but I’m using it for different things (organising myself, listening to podcasts and music) so it’s still an essential gadget. Also, many of the apps sync between gadgets, so I can read my Kindle books on iPod Touch if I don’t want to carry iPad.
In celebration of Apple, I’ve created a cross stitch chart of the Apple logo. It’s free to download and use, if you’d like to do so.
I’m working on my own Apple cross stitch, with white floss on black Aida fabric, but I haven’t got very far. I’m still very stressed at work, so I continue to stare into space and/or snooze on the sofa when I get home.
I’m off to I Knit Weekender on Saturday. Is anyone else going? I’m looking forward to a day out!
I’m a Web 2.0 geek, but my favourite site by far is Twitter. I much prefer it to Facebook, which I use infrequently. To celebrate my love of micro-blogging, I’ve done a cross stitch based on the Twitter logo.
Here’s the chart I created for the project, in case you too want to create a stitched homage to Twitter!
I used 14 count Aida fabric and three colours of DMC floss: 996 (dark blue); 162 (light blue) and 5200 (snow white).
If you want to find me on Twitter, I’m @agirlinwinter. I love finding new crafters to follow, so why not pop by and say hello.
I never saw any of the original Star Wars trilogy when they were first released because I grew up in a tiny, rural village which didn’t have a cinema. However, OH loves Star Wars, and since meeting him I’ve become quite an aficianado! I wanted to try out some cross stitch geek craft and so where better to start than with Star Wars?
I found these charts online, which are actually designed for crochet, but they worked fine for counted cross stitch. I used 14 count white Aida fabric and DMC floss.
First, the Rebel symbol…
Then the Imperial symbol…
I need to find some frames for them now. I was thinking along the lines of frames with an attached magnet on the back so OH can display them on his fridge.
