My TouchPad Today: That was a Fast Fifty Dollars from HP!

Back on August 8 I did a post called Not So Fast, HP! which was about the $50 app catalog credit given to assuage early adopters who missed out on the original, pre-firesale price reduction on the TouchPad.

The $50 didn't even come close to making up for the poor state of the TP at its July 1 debut.

They did a little better on that front later when they rebated the extra we paid and got our cost down to the firesale price.

But getting back to the fast $50...

In that August post I was bitching about how the $50 credit wasn't actually going to cost HP $50 and how most users would be hard-pressed to spend that amount on apps before the credit expired at the end of the year.

Well, it turns out that I've spent the fast $50. ($49.93, to be exact) Shazam!


Lets take a look at some of what I downloaded to burn through these bonus bucks..

• Picsel Smart Office
• Splashtop Remote Desktop HD
• Audiophile HD Pro
• KalemSoft Media Player
• Audubon Birds
• Tea Reader
• NomNomNom Reader

How did you burn -- or not burn -- through your $50 credit from HP?



This post was drafted on my TouchPad



Follow me on Twitter... @rnolan1087

My TouchPad Today: A Slow Day While Waiting on Leo's Fate

It was another slow day for me in the world of TouchPad.

Other than waiting on HP's board to decide the fate of beleaguered CEO Leo Apotheker, I twiddled a bit with a couple of apps...

• Tea Reader -- Had to delete and reinstall the app this morning after it couldn't load my Google Reader feeds. Spent a goodly amount of time futzing around with getting it to re-access the correct one -- the one with news feeds -- of my two Google accounts.  Some user error, some app stubbornness.

• Spaz HD Beta Preview 2 -- Downloaded this app last night and took it out for its first real spin today. I like the fact that it displays a full list of the tweets that I follow, unlike the truncated list provided in the app I've been using.  Beyond that... Meh.

Follow me on Twitter... @rnolan1087

My TouchPad Today: Mornings with the TouchPad and the Pre2

Nothing spectacularly new happening in my TouchPad world over the past few days, so I'll go here with something about my morning routine with my TouchPad and Pre2.


Everyday my electronic duo of the TouchPad and Pre2 get a bit of a morning workout. Here's the agenda...

• PreCentral.net
• The Charlotte Observer
• Boston.com / The Boston Globe
• Twitter
• The New York Times
• Tea Reader (for my Google Reader feeds)
• Blogger.com (to check on my blogs... My TouchPad Today and The Friday Special)

How do you start the day with your TouchPad or other electronic tools?



Follow me on Twitter... @rnolan1087

My TouchPad Today: Tea Reader - An All-Star Player!

Continuing the baseball-related theme from yesterday's post about Video Flood HD being a utility infielder...

Tea Reader is a definite All-Star on my team of TouchPad tablet apps!

With the Enyo-style three sliding panes of info, it has reinvigorated my interest -- and ability -- to follow my Google Reader news feeds.

Over time, it had become a real chore to scroll and slog through my subscription feeds in the Google Reader interface (Desktop = poor / Mobile = brutally bad ).

Tea Reader removes the scroll and slog with the ability to rapidly flick and view through the (sometimes lengthy) list of stories in each of my feeds. This comes in very, very handy when your feeds contain a number of overlapping and duplicate posts.

(For my money, Tea Reader is an even better Enyo fit and user experience than the HP's own built-in email app.)

Would it surprise you that Tea Reader is batting "clean-up" in my TouchPad lineup?



Follow me on Twitter... @rnolan1087