McFedries - IPad 2: portable genius

iPad 2 Portable Genius

by Paul McFedries

iPad 2 Portable Genius

Published by
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
10475 Crosspoint Blvd.
Indianapolis, IN 46256
www.wiley.com

Copyright 2011 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

ISBN: 978-1-118-00412-8

Manufactured in the United States of America

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About the Author

Paul McFedries is a full-time technical writer. Paul has been authoring computer books since 1991 and has more than 70 books to his credit. Pauls books have sold more than four million copies worldwide. These books include the Wiley titles iPhone 4 Portable Genius, Macs Portable Genius Second Edition, MacBook Air Portable Genius Second Edition, Switching to a Mac Portable Genius, Teach Yourself VISUALLY Macs Second Edition, Twitter Tips, Tricks, and Tweets Second Edition, and The Facebook Guide for People Over 50. Paul is also the proprietor of Word Spy (www.wordspy.com), a website that tracks new words and phrases as they enter the language. Paul encourages everyone to drop by his personal website at www.mcfedries.com, or to follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/paulmcf and www.twitter.com/wordspy.

Credits

Senior Acquisitions Editor

Stephanie McComb

Project Editor

Kristin Vorce

Senior Copy Editor

Kim Heusel

Editorial Director

Robyn Siesky

Vice President and Executive Group Publisher

Richard Swadley

Vice President and Executive Publisher

Barry Pruett

Business Manager

Amy Knies

Senior Marketing Manager

Sandy Smith

Project Coordinator

Katie Crocker

Graphics and Production Specialists

Joyce Haughey
Jennifer Henry
Andrea Hornberger

Quality Control Technician

John Greenough

Proofreading

Melissa D. Buddendeck

Indexing

Potomac Indexing, LLC

Dedication

To Karen.

Acknowledgments

Being a freelance technical writer is an awesome vocation: You get to work at home; you get to set your own schedule; and you get to help other people understand and use technology, which is a warm-fuzzy-feeling generator. But perhaps the best part of technical writing is getting to be among the first not just to use but to really dive into the latest and greatest software and hardware. The hardware side is often the most fun, because it means you get to play with gadgets, and thats a gadget geeks definition of a dream job. So to say I had a blast researching and writing about the iPad redefines the word understatement. What self-respecting gadget guy wouldnt have a perma-grin while poking and prodding the iPad to see just what it can do?

And what self-respecting technical writer wouldnt be constantly shaking his head in admiration while working with the amazing editorial team at Wiley? Skip back a couple of pages to see the complete list of the team who worked so hard to bring you this book. The people I worked with directly included Senior Acquisitions Editor Stephanie McComb, who found a way for me to realize my dream of writing an iPad book; Project Editor Kristin Vorce, a veritable good suggestion machine who made this a better book in so many ways; and Senior Copy Editor Kim Heusel, whose judicious and just-so editing make me look like a much more competent writer than I am. Thanks to all of you for your hard work and unmatched competence.

To get some idea of just how successful the iPad has been, consider that it took 20 years before the millionth television was sold, a year and a half before the millionth DVD player was sold, and nearly three years before the millionth iPod was sold. The iPad sold one million units in its first 28 days. No consumer electronic product has had a faster adoption rate than the iPad. There are many reasons behind the success of the iPad, and its smaller cousins, the iPhone and iPod touch, but if you polled fans of these devices I bet one reason would quickly bubble up to the top spot: the touch interface. Its slick, elegant, and just so easy: a tap here, a tap there, and away you go.

Using the iPads touch interface is like playing in one of those seaside areas where the water is only a couple of feet deep no matter where you go: You can still have all kinds of fun, but you never have to swim hard and theres little chance of drowning. However, if you walk out far enough in many of those ocean areas, you suddenly come to the edge of an underwater shelf, where the sandy bottom gives way to the inky ocean depths.