Just because your sending an IM now, or a tweet, or a facebook group or something doesn't meant someone is sitting on the other end reading it. So how is that different than email? I know people who set their status invisible in IM's because it has gotten so annoying. I find IM's take much longer for me to understand what the person on the other end wants. Typical scenario:

coworker: Hi
Me: Hi
coworker: typing for seems like an eternity and I know as soon as I switch away that damn taskbar icon will start blinking. I wait, and wait, get annoyed, switch to a new window, blink blink blink!!

Its surprising in this day in age that most IT workers still can't type worth a damn.

For the record, I have never purchased an apple product with my own money. My iphone and ipad was provided by work. As for the ipad, a senior manager didn't want his so I was the lucky recipient and about the only non-manager in our group to have one.

All employee's have laptops instead of desktops now. That was a company initiative years ago and you really don't have a choice in the matter.

Geoffrey.Landis:
"What "20%" of my use of a computer am I going to have problems with if I switch to an iPad+keyboard for my portable?"

That 20% is going to be different for most people and depends on how you use a computer day to day. For me its bouncing between ssh sessions, most of our enterprise applications (which I support) won't work on an iPad. I find its great for short duration tasks such as an app server crashing, logging in to take a quick look, restart it, etc. Its great for bringing to meetings to look stuff up quick, meeting materials, etc. I brought it while on vacation last summer and had to login to work for a couple of hours. I could get the job done but it was much more time consuming to do on an ipad.

"Well, maybe because it weighs half as much and has three times the battery lifetime?"

Once you factor in a Zaggmate keyboard, they are pretty close in weight. I haven't used either an ipad or a air until they were drained to do a valid comparison of battery life.

  serviscope_minor:
"To be fair, a decent 13" laptop with a spare house brick would be easier to tote around than the average 17" laptop."

For sure, I had a Lenovo X200 with an extra battery. Loved it but unfortunately it wasn't fast enough and they replaced it with a T61.

To the Anonymous Coward's:

"Because he his a fucking hipster apple faggot thats why"

As I said, for the record, I have never purchased an apple product. I'm lucky enough to have work provide me with some nice toys. Other than the iPhone, I am not sure I would spend my own money on it. I get the sense your the jealous type who can't afford apple stuff.

"There are so many subnotebooks with ~1kg weights and built-in Ethernet, 3G and even DVD drives. The Air hype is just fanboy self-fellatio."

I'm sure there are.. Just as i'm sure management is just waiting for me to research it and provide them a recommendation. For one, thats not my job, its someone elses. For the uneducated, like yourself, there is much more than picking a piece of hardware and asking management to buy it for you. There are such a thing called support costs.

Just some background, I am an Oracle DBA who is oncall every second week. I used to carry around my laptop, power cable and iphone while I was on call. I managed to get my hands on an iPad and used it for light reading, email, etc. I tried to use it while on call but it was too painful. SSH on the thing is nice if your in a bind, but you don't want to be using it for an extended period of time. Just think about trying to use vi, yikes.

Anyways, I picked up a Zaggmate keyboard for it. I now carry it primarily while I am on call, much easier to tote around than my 17" laptop. Has a better battery life and 3g built in. I don't have to worry about draining my phone at the same time as my laptop.

However, if I am traveling I take both the laptop and ipad. While the ipad is good for short periods of work, it is still painful for long periods. And its also not suited for alot of tasks, which you don't realize until you actually try to do them.

So I would agree to a point that 80% of work can be done on an iPad but its that other 20% that kills you. I could also walk to work but that would take an extra 2 hours each way than using my car.

The macbook air is light, small, easy to carry around. I am not sure why you would use an iPad over it. I've heard quite a few people say the opposite as the guy in the article. Once they bought air's they barely used their ipads. Once you factor in the cost of the keyboard, ipad, your almost at an air anyways.

I second this one, the camera you have with you is the best one. Its very true, you never know when that "moment" is going to happen.. My iphone 4s takes great pictures outdoors.. Low light and indoors aren't the greatest but what do you expect from an LED flash and pinhole lens.

I have too many cameras. A canon rebel Xsi with a number of lenses, a Canon S3, my wife has a small Canon ELPH or whatever they are called. I have 2 waterproof cameras.

So it depends on what I want to take a picture of. If I know I am going out to take pictures, say a birthday party or the local tulip festival, I bring my Rebel. If I am going to a concert I bring my S3 because it has a long zoom and isn't considered a professional camera (ie detachable lense) so they let me bring it in. My wife's small Canon ELPH I bring with me when I know I may be somewhere I want to take pictures but not entirely sure or where I don't want to lug around a big camera.. ie, the local museum i've been too a dozen times before.

The trade between point and shoot and a DSLR really comes down to recycle time, focusing, low light and changing lenses. Point and shoot are good for quick decent shots.

So which camera you are interested in really comes down to what you want to do with it. You mention family, friends, etc but thats pretty vague. Say you have kids, and you want to take pictures of them playing sports, then your probably going to want a DSLR. You can get away with a point and shoot but your not going to be happy with it. If they are in alot of school plays your going to want to find one with a good zoom and low light conditions.

You sound like your going to be a casual user, not looking to use any advance features such as setting the shutter speed, aperture, etc.. so I would go with a small point and shoot with a decent zoom just in case.

So Canon - PowerShot SX230HS, or a NIKON - Coolpix S8200.. You can get them on sale now for around 200$. Go to the store, see how it feels in your hands, if it feels "too big", ie that you won't take it with you, then go with something smaller like a Canon - PowerShot ELPH 300 HS.

If you stick with a name brand like Canon or Nikon in the 150-300$ range then you'll be happy with the pictures.

I am not a fan of roundabouts replacing lights but in my area 2 of them replaced 4 way stops. I hate 4/3 way stops with a passion, unless its a school/park zone where you want to force people to slow down.

I have to say tho, they have worked out really well. I have seen some close calls and thats mainly caused by people not yielding as they enter the roundabout trying to push it and squeeze in. Hasn't been too much of a problem for me since I bought my Dodge Ram truck tho.

It all depends on how you use the tablet but for me I use it the 10hrs a week i'm sitting at a soccer practice, swimming pool, the wife is shopping, doctors office, dentists, etc. None of those locations have a WiFi point. Honestly, other than reading a book or video you've already downloaded, I have no idea what people do with a tablet and no internet access.

I have a 3G iPad and for about 3 weeks my data plan was messed up and not working. It sat on the table and I barely used it. If i'm at home, yes I have WiFi but I also have 4 laptops in the house and my desktop. If i'm at work, yes I have WiFi but I also have a desktop with 2 screens and my laptop. I have a tablet for while i'm on the go and don't want to cart around my laptop. Now that more and more services are in the cloud you need a device thats connected. Thats my opinion anyways.

The only way I would not buy a 3G tablet is if I had a smartphone which I could tether it to.

Who gets mad when IT doesn't jump at his request.. Just maybe your IT department has other priorities? I see it on a daily basis... For whatever reason some people think the IT department is just playing solitaire waiting for their phone call. Just like you, we have priorities dictated to us from management. Follow the proper process and put a request in for a new calendaring application. If you have a sound business case, then it will get approved, prioritized, etc.. For all they know, your app is only used by you and your buddy to schedule poker nights.

Who is going to support this application? You? Or are you going to expect IT to do it? Who's going to support it while your on vacation/sick? Who's going to maintain the server, apply security patch updates, upgrading, backup and recovery, etc? Is the server in a proper location or is it under your desk? Does the cleaning lady unplug it so she can vacuum? (Seen this one happen, don't laugh..)

You know, setting up and configuring an application, especially if there are no customizations, is the easy part. The expensive part, which no one talks about is the lights on maintenance. Its funny how everything thinks they are an IT expert cause they have a computer at home. I wonder what would happen if I spent an evening reading Teach yourself Radiology in 24hrs book and took a stroll over to that department.

If my commute was longer, 45min+ and/or there was no parking I would take a small pay cut. By small I mean, savings of not driving or buying a parking pass. So probably 5%. However, I already get to work from home at least twice a week and my commute is only 20-25 min without a pay cut.

To the other guy who responded to this comment: If your DBA has to call Oracle support to figure out how to install it on Linux then you need a new DBA. It takes 10 minutes to prep a RedHat OS to install Oracle, its not complicated.

As for Oracle Linux, there is a package you can download which will install the pre-reqs called oracle-validated. From the links below:

Named after, and derived from Validated Configurations, oracle-validated also creates an oracle OS user and an oinstall and dba group. Kernel parameters are also set properly, ensuring that the Oracle Universal Installer will proceed without complaints. Very nice!

http://blogs.oracle.com/sergio/2008/08/revisiting_the_oraclevalidated_1.html
http://blogs.oracle.com/AlejandroVargas/2008/10/the_oraclevalidated_rpm_is_ava.html

Pretty simple.

I've been in the IT industry long enough, 15 years and have worked in companies from a couple hundred employees to hundreds of thousands. I experienced the IT craziness in the 90's when you couldn't hire people fast enough. I've also helped interview my share of candidates.

Maybe these 'mobile engineers' come from some super duper university. I don't know but in my experience developers coming straight out of university are pretty green. Honestly, how much real experience did they get? Most universities teach only a course or two on mobile app development. Whats that? Like 30 hours class time? Another week or so spent outside the class doing 'homework'? A friend of mine, senior developer, decided to make an iPhone app one day and within a couple of weeks working a couple hours a night, he had a pretty impressive application. They could have easily ramped up their employees.

This guy is the team lead, by all accounts doing an excellent job so there is no reason he couldn't have picked up the necessary skills. IMHO its a slap in the face and I would be polishing up my resume and looking for a quick exit.

IMO, this it another example of management failing to do their jobs. The project was needed 'ASAP', big surprise, which meant they were caught off guard and had to scramble.

I have had a PSP Slim for a couple of years. Other than God of War and maybe 1-2 more games, i've barely touched it. My son uses it most of the time now since he got Invisimals for Xmas. I have to give them credit for that game, its a pretty cool game. Maybe its me, but I don't find many games on the PSP appealing...

If they actually come out with some decent titles, then i'll buy it.. but I have a feeling I won't be.

Both myself and my son are gamers, so yes i'm biased. However, saying that the kids are all crowded around a demo ipad playing games means nothing. Its new, they most likely don't have one at home and excited because its the latest and greatest toy. When my son goes to the games store he stuck on whatever Wii title they are demo'ing... Half the time we have the damn thing at home and he doesn't touch it.

I brought an ipad home from work for 2 weeks. Both my kids (gamer son, daughter) constantly used it the first few days. 2 weeks later I was the only one using it regularly and not for games. My son quickly reverted back to the DS, PSP, XBOX or PS3 to play games. Up until I brought an ipad home my daughter had a fund saving up for one. I think she spent it on clothes since then.. I haven't heard a peep.

There are a few games that perfectly suit an ipad. I have a few puzzle games, line tracing games, etc. but other than that, any serious gamer is going to have a portable gaming device or a console. Can't wait to play me some Black Ops on an iPad, not....

I have an iPhone and yes I play games on it but they are timewasters. I've tried the ones with the virtual keyboard/buttons and quite honestly it sucks. You end up missing because there is no tactile feed back, your finger blocks the screen because you pulled the joystick to far, end up dying, etc.

These people playing games on their smartphone probably would probably never buy a portable gaming device.

How about foreign companies doing business in the USA not breaking the local laws? Maybe you should read up on the facts of the case. SAP admitted to copyright infringement and the case was just to determine damages.

Honestly banning wifi makes no sense.. If there are any residential houses in the area (which there most likely are) then the kids are being 'bombarded' anyways. In the range of my house there are at least a dozen wifi networks and I would say the majority of houses in an urban dwelling are the same. So even if there are health dangers, their kids are constantly exposed.

Lenovo's new Ideapad which will be out later this year:

http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/lenovo-ideapad-u1-hybrid-hands-on-and-impressions/

It was supposed to come out about now but they decided to replace the snapdragon OS with Android. I showed this to my manager, the IT staff and we all can't wait for it. Especially now that Android will be on it.

The price is supposed to be around 1K as well.