Dear iPad (also known as little mac),

I never knew what I was missing in life until I found you. The ease in which I can search for things, write scholarly articles, and watch reality TV amazes me.

Your lightweight no-need-to-pretend-I’m-breaking-my-back-while-lugging-you-in-my-bag is fantastic. Not to mention how the envious stares, whenever I slowly take you out of said bag, make me feel like the six-foot model I’ve always wanted to be. You’re like the liposuction I never knew I wanted to get.

While your looks are on par with none, it’s your personality and brain that really have me hooked. The best friend, oh-hey-girl-check-out-this-magazine, mentality of your apps. The organization of my hectic — okay insane — life. The instant notifications for emails rejecting yet another application, although are disappointing, still make my day. And that little ping I hear every time a Words With Friends move is made, well it’s almost as good as buying three pairs or new shoes (that’s right…three freakin’ pairs).

Basically you are the electronic best friend I never knew I needed. Plus I can fit you in cute bags AND you never talk back. You even take pictures of me without being asked, so I mean you’re basically the perfect best friend.

Well little mac, thank you for a great beginning…I look forward to the rest of our lives together. Oh and I promise to get a keyboard so I can stop typing on your face.

xoxo

Courtney

Hold onto your glasses, geeks! The iPad 3 might get here sooner than we all thought. I have the iPad 2, and to be honest with you, I’m completely in love with it. I don’t go anywhere without it, and I can’t quite remember what I did before I had it in my little technology obsessed hands. When the iPad first came out, I was definitely a bit skeptical. Why would anyone need an oversized iPhone? Now I can’t imagine life without my oversized iPhone.

iPad has so many great features from its amazing display to its incredible battery life. It stays charged longer than my laptop does. Apps on the iPad make life easy with project management tools, iBooks, and magazines right at your fingertips. I’m a Mac in every aspect of my life, but even my PC friends can’t get enough of the iPad. In addition to being a great education and business device, it’s also fabulous in terms of entertainment whether you’re playing Angry Birds or watching Netflix. But that’s enough bragging on the iPad.

Rumors of the iPad 3 have been circulating like crazy around the interwebs, and Apple fans couldn’t be more excited. Although most of the rumors have been based on speculation, there are some recently leaked photos of the iPad 3. It appears to be a little bit thicker than the iPad 2 with a better rear camera. It will have more tapered edges, and is allegedly set to be released on March 7! Oh, and there might also be the release of a smaller, iPad Mini. Leave it to Mr. Steve Jobs to always have one more thing.

Do you have an iPad? Are you excited about the iPad 3? Would you invest in it?

Caitlin is a senior at the University of Alabama who has an obsession with cupcakes, coffee, andHarry Potter. She always has random fun facts on reserve and aspires to be a professional blogger,social media bug, and/or James Franco’s assistant. Follow her fabulous life @caitlincorsetti. You’re welcome!

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The Occupy Wall Street protests that began in New York City’s financial district have spread across the country, uniting Americans against corporate, greedy interest. Or at least, that’s what we think they’re uniting against. The movement is highly unorganized and without any clear demands. On the one hand, this makes it harder to actually accomplish anything tangible. But on the other, it makes the movement all the more authentic for every person who shows up with handmade, anti-Wall Street poster in hand (such as Penn Badgley…) Protests have spread to every major city, including a notable, 4,000-strong demonstration in Portland, as well as many universities. As for the unavoidable, stupid response from a politician, presidential candidate Herman Cain weighed in: “Don’t blame Wall Street, don’t blame the big banks, if you don’t have a job and you’re not rich, blame yourself!”

The co-founder of Apple, Steve Jobs, died on Wednesday after a years-long battle with pancreatic cancer. But if you have a facebook, twitter, internet connection,or any sort of a life, I’m sure you already knew that. Thousands of people gathered at Apple stores across the world to mourn the death of the innovative visionary, who was responsible for many products that changed the way we interact with each other and the world.  Plus, he’s the guy behind Pixar’s success- so no Jobs, no Finding Nemo. He was 56-years-old.

Amanda Knox, who was convicted of murdering her British roommate four years ago, headed home to Seattle on Tuesday after an Italian Appeals Court overturned the ruling. If you don’t remember when all this first went down, it was a big deal- a Casey-Anthony-Style big deal. Knox was just a 20-year-old, junior in college (scary, right?) when she was convicted of killing her roommate, Meredith Kercher, in a “drug fueled sex game.” Her guilt later came in to doubt, however, when key DNA-evidence that led to her conviction was discredited. What do you next when you’ve suffered such a traumatizing event? Knox’s plans are anyone’s guess, but she’ll undoubtedly make serious bank.

Pic o’ the Week:

Picture: Rex Features

This week, the media discovered Herbert Chavez, a 35-year-old man from the Philippines who has had surgery after surgery since 1998 to transform himself into his favorite cartoon character, Superman. His house is filled to the brim with Superman memorabilia, but I won’t really be impressed until he figures out how to fly.

On October 4th, Apple made the huge announcement all technology geeks were waiting for — the iPhone 5…oh wait. Just as we were all anticipating the announcement of the iPhone 5, Apple laughed in our faces as they announced the iPhone 4s. As someone who loves her iPhone 4, I’m a little confused. Some of the new features the iPhone 4s supposedly offer don’t sound that exciting and — sorry to Apple — I don’t think the juice is worth the squeeze. Here are some of the features the iPhone 4s plans to offer.

1. It has an eight megapixel camera and can record videos in HD.
As a self-proclaimed party girl I love that my cellphone takes pictures, I never have to worry that I forgot my camera before homecoming, formal, an awesome toga party or any other event that I might want to take a picture at. I have at least 200 pictures on my phone at all times, I don’t know how many megapixels my camera is and I don’t care. My iPhone takes better pictures than my digital camera so whether it’s a six megapixel camera or an eight megapixel one doesn’t really matter, as long as it doesn’t crack when I drop it.

2. Siri
So the new iPhone offers this “personal assistant” named Siri that is voice activated. Allegedly, you can ask it to set your alarm, remind you of someone’s birthday, tell you what the weather is supposed to be like that day and other random things. While I do think this sounds cool, I don’t really understand the point. I mean, I already have a weather app on my phone and I can set my alarm myself. How incompetent does Apple think we are?

3. iPhone 4s is being offered on Verizon, AT&T and Sprint.
All the people complaining that Sprint doesn’t have the iPhone can shut up now, because as of October 14th Sprint will be selling the iPhone 4s. As far as I can tell this is the only new addition to the iPhone that is enough to make people buy it.

Because of the new product the iPhone 4 will be on sale for $99 (when I bought mine for almost $300 but whatever), and iPhone 3G will be free to AT&T customers. iPhone 4s will be $199 for 16 GB, $299 for 32GB and $399 for a 64 GB (who needs THAT much memory?!?) and they come in black and white. Personally, if you’re pining after the wonderful iPhone (as you should be) I would use this opportunity to save a few bucks and nab an iPhone 4 for $99 dollars. Do you really need your phone to set your alarm in the morning?

Think about it while you look at all these celebs who you just know will be upgrading to the 4s.

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Last night after work, I signed onto my Macbook and saw the news. The innovator who created the computer I was typing on…had died. Steve Jobs changed the world, and we can all learn a few things from him. Whether you’re a freshman just starting college, or a senior on the verge of graduation, you could probably learn a little from Steve Jobs.

1. Trust your instinct

Jobs once said, “And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” If your instinct is telling you to be an art history major even though you don’t think you’ll make tons of money, go for it.

2. Take Risks

If Jobs and the rest of Apple never took risks, you probably wouldn’t be playing Angry Birds on your iPhone right now…or be able to FaceTime chat with your parents to tell them you need more money.

3. Be a Genius

Obviously Jobs was a genius. If he weren’t, we wouldn’t have all of these cool Apple products making our lives easier. So hit the books, and start learning. You may do something awesome.

4. Don’t take no for an answer

Another gem from Jobs was, “I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.” So when someone tells you no, beat them up. Just kidding. You should just ignore them.

5. Change the World

Don’t settle. Jobs kept creating products that changed everyone’s lives. Keep trying and you could do something really cool.

So cool your jets, people. Let’s not go too crazy for this new phone. Here’s a few ways you probably shouldn’t react when the iPhone 5 is announced.

1. Don’t skip all of your mid-terms to go to New York City and camp out in front of the Apple store. It doesn’t look good to grad schools or potential employers if you say, “Yeah my grades are really bad, but I have a really cool phone.

2. Don’t destroy your iPhone 4. We don’t want to be premature. We don’t even know for sure if Apple is announcing an iPhone 5. If you destroy your old phone, and Apple ends up announcing the iSnuggie, you’ll be pretty upset.

3. Don’t end a 10-year friendship if your BFF gets the new iPhone before you do. You guys probably made a blood oath when you were younger to be friends forever. Blood oaths > iPhone.

4. Don’t buy every new app. It will probably end up costing more than the phone itself, and you’ll be stuck with some really stupid apps taking up tons of your cool, new gigabytes.

5. Don’t wear a black turtleneck during the week of the release. Steve Jobs isn’t even the CEO of Apple anymore, and you’ll look like a weird beat poet.

Well, close to a month later, I am sad to admit that though I have been entirely satisfied with “Jose” (my delicious techie partner-in-crime), there are some bad qualities about Steve Jobs, Apple and the iPhone that I just can’t ignore. First things first, yes, the reception is entirely sucky. I can’t even hold my phone “correctly” without the bars going down significantly. And even when I have full reception (which is rare, btw) I get so many dropped calls that I don’t even want to call people. My flash is way too bright, making all the photos that I take all night look ghostly and scary. Plus, even though Facetime is awesome (no, seriously, really awesome), it’s so shaky and unreliable on Wi-Fi that unless I’m using it to talk to my friends in other rooms under the same network, it rarely gives me the video chat experience that I had previously envisioned.

Which sorta defeats the purpose, yes?

But still, just like with that bad boy who keeps treating me like crap, I keep making excuses for Steve, Apple and “Jose.” I tell all my friends, “Who makes phone calls nowadays? It’s all about texting!” and “I don’t care if the pictures look funny, Jose’s got an amazing flash!” I just can’t walk away. I know Jose isn’t perfect and that I can’t fix him, but I keep hoping and praying that my love is enough to get us by. That he’ll change, that he’ll become the functional phone I know he can be. 

My friends and family are worried. “Why would you get that phone and stand by it, knowing about all of its defects?” they ask. And I don’t have an excuse. I explain that Jose is my best friend. He keeps me in check and reminds me to turn assignments in on time. He plays music for me when I’m sad, runs with me when I’m angry, but most importantly, he gets me (in the whole ‘I can store a lot of useful apps’ kind of way). So what if he’s not perfect. WHO IS?

So I keep running back. No matter what excuses Steve comes up with and no matter how much I hate not being able to make PHONE CALLS on my PHONE, I forgive Mr. Jobs. When he tells me he’ll fix the reception problem with a software update, I believe him. When he tells me I am holding the phone the wrong way, I punish myself for not thinking ahead. I trust him.  and despite all his shortcomings, he has been good to me.

I want to stop, but I can’t.
Like the jerks we are often attracted to, I still love Steve, Apple and most importantly, Jose.

But this thing?  Meh, not so much. The iPad’s got a hefty price tag that will set any college student back and I’m just not sure it’s worth it. Based on what I’ve seen, I’m pretty sure I could take that $600 elsewhere (like, I don’t know, the bar?) and be a whole lot happier.

Here’s why:

Apple Says: OMG EMAIL IS SO EASY TO CHECK!
Reality: Yeah, email is easy to check everywhere. Like on my laptop, my phone, or the 3,000 computers scattered around my campus. In fact, sometimes I wish my email were less accessible. If my profs knew they could contact me on yet another device, I’d never have the “I didn’t realize the assignment had been revised” excuse.

Apple Says: AHHH! YOU CAN READ MAGAZINES/NEWSPAPERS/BOOKS ON IT!!!
Reality: Or – and here’s a crazy thought – you could read actual newspapers/magazines/books.  Some of them are more portable than this thing and a hell of a lot cheaper. And if you really want an e-reader, the Kindle costs way less and won’t kill your eyes.

Apple Says: WOW YOU CAN LISTEN TO MUSIC ON IT SO EASILY!!!
Reality: You know what else you can listen to music on?  An iPod.  Which is also Apple. And much smaller and easier to use.  Plus, in the immortal words of Phyllis from The Office, “If you don’t have an iPod by now, you really don’t want one.”

Apple Says: YOUTUBE IS ON THIS THING?!
Reality: Yeah, it is.  Along with every other device known to man.  YouTube can literally be accessed by you on any electronic device anywhere.  Fear not, the fat kid singing “A:F6″ can be found even at 2 in the morning in the far reaches of space at this point. If, you know, you really couldn’t wait to get near a computer and needed to watch that right. this. second.

Apple Says: IT’S SO PORTABLE!!!!  LIKE A LAPTOP, ONLY BETTER!!
Reality: So a smaller version of a laptop that does all of these things?  You mean like the iPhone that they invented three years ago?  And that thing makes calls and texts, too.  This product does…none of those things.  Plus, it’s pretty unrealistic that those interested in buying it are also interested in bringing back the man-satchel just to tote this useless tablet around.

So yeah, I will not be dropping my hard earned money on Apple’s latest. At least not until the way better, way cheaper 2nd generation comes out.

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