Anyone have a view on the Post Office / Mail situation here in the states? Commenting to a friend's post, this was my gripe.

"It's a lost cause, it's sad because my uncle and other ppl i know work for the post office but the service is no longer really needed. Sure for packages and certain things it is, but a much smaller percentage than once was. Companies as well as the USPS have to adapt and that means cutting staff when there isn't enough work for everyone. That's what should be done. Not decrease services or charging more. They need to cut staff and perhaps locations, period."

Should I get and iPad2?

Here's an email that was sent to me asking about the new iPad 2. I thought I'd post it up for anyone else who might have the same questions.

Yep, trying to thaw out but Chicago is still cold and snowy.

I hope you're doing well, can't be that cold in the middle of the east coast.

Sure, I can answer some questions for ya.

I'll post some answers after your questions ...

Hi Ken,

I hope you're doing well and thawing out from the winter's cold.

I'm thinking about getting the IPad 2 and remember you're a big fan of the IPad.

So a few questions:

1. Are you going to buy the 2 and do a review? If yes, let me know when/where to find the review.

On a more personal level, my goal is to use the IPad for travel to check emails, read newspapers and magazine articles and surf the web and watch the occasional movie. I will not be using it for business, to play games, or to store music or photos. I will upgrade to a new PC for these purposes when my old one blows up. I'm pretty much prefer the IPad over the Xoom just because I want to look young and cool. Given these:

Answer: Right now, the xoom is just too overpriced anyway. I thought the ipad was overpriced, not compared to the xoom. :)
You'll end up playing games on it. Everyone does. ha ha, I have a bunch on there now but the nice thing is they're all free. :)
This time around, I'm planning to sit out unless i can get rid of my original ipad. There's talk an ipad 3 is coming in September though. How realistic is that, not sure ...

2. Should I upgrading to 32G for an extra $100 since my current storage needs aren't great?

Answer: It depends, I got into audiobooks and podcasts and bringing my Tivo programming with me on my daily travels. If you're going to do that, you might run out of space with a 16. I'm juggling every friday to bring what i want to have over the weekend with me for those times I'm out and bored. On a side note, I don't carry any music. I usually use the Slacker app for that. Slacker is a music cache service where u can bring saved music channels. They have an online component too, try it :) it's like pandora but better.

3. I'm stuck with my Andriod phone for another year an a half. Should I still upgrade to the 32G with 3G model for an another $129 (or there abouts, or $229 over the base model) in case I switch over to an IPhone after my current contract expires?

Answer: Does your android have the hotspot feature? With that and a good plan, you don't need the 3G. I got the wifi version and have never needed 3G. I do have an iphone4 though and it picks up the slack when I'm outdoors away from wifi. I've gotten use to using them both at the same time, they complement each other nicely.

4. What advantage is there to upgrade to 3G? Are there many places where WiFi isn't available where a normal person would go to?

Answer: Almost all wifi is protected now so pretty much if you think you'll have a hard time finding a coffee shop or airport or other place with wifi, 3G is good to "think about" but maybe not buy until you really think about your need. You mentioned you already have an android, they probably forced you to get a data plan and they won't let you off of it.

5. Can I add on additional memory or 3G capability down the road without having to buy a new IPad?

Answer: No. Why? Steve Jobs says so.

6. Any clues as to when the IPad 3 will come out and what extras it'll have? (One thing glaringly missing is a disk drive or port to an external drive to copy in music and movies. Did I read there was a flash port for this?) In other words, should I just upgrade to a new laptop for now and wait for the IPad 3 to come out?

Answer: For something even more expensive, I would get the apple air 11 inch version if I had a choice but that is seriously overpriced and actually isn't as helpful when out and about unless they are able to start using apps from the apple store (which i think they are working on or may have already released (i don't have an apple computer but that's what I heard a few months ago))

7. Will I really look cool and young with an IPad or do I have to start incorporating "dude" in my daily conversation and listening to rap?

Dude, you don't listen to rap? J/k, don't bother ha ha, that's not worth it ha ha. Why? Almost everything is young and cool now. Computers are copying the Air and the tablets are copying the iPad. You won't be able to avoid the cool factor :) If you get something unexpected, you'll just be an outsider and what's cooler than that!?

---
I don't need answers right away. I'm not about to camp out in front of an Apple store so I can get one right away. Thanks for all your advice.

Addition: No Problem, I think many people are thinking about this right now, I might just post this on my blog for anyone else, minus names though. Have a great week!

It looks like there's no pre-order so if you get the urge, lines may start Thursday ! :) or before :) crazy people. I walked in the Sunday after the release of the ipad 1 though and had no probs just picking it up and leaving. Hopefully it will be the same for you.

See ya!

Just a few minutes on the economy.

I was born in the US but I am a great fan of China and their growth as a leader in the world. I really do think the US and China's economy are linked in a very important way. We can see the truth in that this past week as the US played very good host to China's president. I am not an economist, but I do worry about the building inflation that I see worrying me and those around me. Recently, I've been paying a lot of attention to the Asian news market. It seems they are building inflation a lot faster than we are. I just want to outline some interesting things that I've seen them do and I would like feedback on if these things would work for us. Psychologically, I would think they would make us all more relaxed and confident about our economy. What repercussions this might have toward other parts of the economy and government I don't know. Any good links to other ideas?

I've heard some buzz as far as in China, some people suggesting that the government should reallocate more money from the rich to the poor. Would that work, even in China? I guess mainland China could do that if they wanted to, but it would never work here. I'd like to see them get Hong Kong people to stand for that as well. Even over there, business folks want to be so liberal and make so much more money nowadays, I think that would actually cause an upheaval in the economy. That wouldn't help at all. At the same time, those economists are suggesting privatizing some government run parts of the economy. That seems like a very strange policy wrought with contradictions. How can you instate state control over the wealth of a nation and yet place the basis of that wealth in the hands of private individuals or organizations? Seems like you're just lengthening the problem and making more people poorer in the process. Perhaps that's what they want to do, give a majority of the wealth and power to fewer people so that they can be controlled. Control. A reoccurring feature of Chinese politics.

Both China and Korea seem to have raised interest rates this past week and that's certainly something we don't want to see in this country, we never really want that on this side of the sea. Of course sometimes it's necessary. Something interesting that Korea is doing is freezing utility rates for the next six months, and suggesting colleges do the same for tuition. Six months seems like a short time to me but in the short term it might make people feel good that they are not going to find a surprise in their mailbox over the next few months.

Just some observations and thoughts, as I said, I'm a US citizen but I'm also a big fan of China and (maybe because I'm Chinese-American) want to see the Far East grow and succeed. I'll be anxious to see how these changes affect that part of the world and what happens 6 months later. I always have the point of view that we can all learn from each other, we're all in such poor positions as far as our economies and the outlook as far as business leaders toward the future state of the short term economy. I hope someone has an answer, I'd say that we in the US are not doing enough to produce jobs and reduce debt. Perhaps the east has something to say about that.

Something new?^ When did google start previewing links? awesome

Google Preview?

Something new? When did google start previewing all links on searches? I think this is just awesome!