Get Rich Slick

I have been on extensive business travel lately and relying almost exclusively on my ipad for just about everything and then it occured to me that it is replacing a ton of devices.

The table below shows the device my ipad has replaced, the cost of the device, the percentage replacement value and the net value.

To explain whaat I mean by replacement percentage I will use a couple of examples. I can buy a police scanner from amazon.com for about $180 or I can download a free app called “5-0” and get 75% similar usage than the real scanner so the net value is $180 x 75% = $135.

Similarly I can buy a cheap digital camera for $100 or use the ipad’s built in camera for free but since the ipad camera is feature limited, I only get $50 of value.

The table isn’t complete as I am constantly adding items but you get the idea.

ipad 2

You will note that obvious things like books, reference materials, and such aren’t on the list because they replace heavy media with electronic media but I did use USA Today as an example.

During recent storms in Jasper and Oklahoma, I had a friend that was trying to understand what was going on, so I showed him the 5-0 app and he could listen to live police activity!

I am starting to think that the ipad may begin to replace things like cash for digital currency and digital checks. Just add an external sensor and turn my ipad into a stethascope, ultrasound machine, medical scanner, geiger counter, etc.

My wife collects expensive porcelain figurines and every year, I buy her a figure so it was much to my surprise when I went in to one of these high end shops recently to buy something for my wife that I experienced something new.

The little old lady behind the counter struck up a conversation with me and began to complain about Obama.   She wasn’t a democratic supporter by any stretch of the imagination but she seemed to want to support almost every democratic position without realizing it!

First, her husband was retired, living off social security and in need of medicaid because of his extensive medical problems.  I got the impression that this couple didn’t have a lot of money hence the little old lady working at a shop selling figurines.  The shop lady then says she too is also on social security and medicaid and is terrified that Obama is going to take it all away.  Seriously?  If anything, Obama will tax us all to death for worthless social programs so I don’t know how this lady jumps to the conclusions she jumps to!

This was the most coherent part of the discussion because then it degenerated (by her) into a rant about things I won’t mention here because they’re pointless.   Oddly enough, I ask her who she thinks the Republican candidate should be and she is clueless.    She doesn’t like anyone and doesn’t know but strongly believes that Obama will win re-election.

For the uninitiated, cognitive dissonance is the term used to describe someone’s apparent illogical belief in one thing despite contrary evidence to the opposite.    It was a very strange day.

Oh well, I got the expensive figurines and left.

Well I just completed yet another semester of school and I have to say that nothing much has deviated from my previous observations of the MBA program which you can read about here, here and here.   I can honestly say why MBA programs target certain individuals though because by the time you get to senior management positions within a corporation, most of what is taught in an MBA program can be seen as pretty thin and useless however naive students that haven’t “made it” yet are under the impression that these skills will get them up the next rung on the ladder.

I’ve come to the conclusion that most of the professors at these universities use the students as mules to do heavy lifting of research, work and other activities then probably take credit for most of the work.   Truth be told, you can pretty much learn what you need to know by running your own business for a year or working for a small biz owner whereby you hold multiple positions.

Having stated all that, I have learned a few things that have been of benefit particularly in finance but they were things that I could have learned through other avenues just as well.     I’m beyond the half way point now so there’s no turning back, I NEED to keep going and finish up my dual MBA plan.

My hope for the future is getting to some serious meat on the bone as my classes advance toward the higher tiers but we’ll see what happens….

So I’m totally in love with my new iPad 2.  It is everything I want in a portable computing platform and I now take it everywhere.  Since I purchased my iPad 2, my macbook pro has been sitting at the desk untouched.    I can do about 95% of what I need to do with my ipad but it has a few minor pitfalls.

The biggest pitfall is that it seems to require constant internet connection.  While “good” apps like USA Today will download and cache news articles most of them are “bad” apps that don’t cache and don’t work while offline.   This goes for some games to that seem to need the internet to run for no good apparent reason than perhaps to stream ads to the device for those “free” apps.

I have long awaited jet airlines to offer internet service but quite honestly, if they do they can kiss a large percentage of their revenue good bye, especially if I can stream netflix in flight.   But then again, airlines can save money by not having to load the plane with a bunch of TV screens.   Most of the time I’m on a plane, most of the people have iPads or iPhones or some other electronic device and hardly anyone requests headsets for the inflight movie or Direct TV.

While on a plane though, I keep thinking about all the things that I could be doing with internet access:  book a massage appointment at the spa, book reservations for dinner, get updated weather, update my hotel room preferences, on and on but no internet on the plane 🙁

I can’t believe April 21 was the last time I wrote a post.   I have been gone so long that I hadn’t realized that the domain had expired and I needed to get that fixed so that took a while to get fixed.    I have been literally flying every where since my last post.   I’ve flown from the east to the west and north and south.

With work, travel, school (yeah still in the MBA program), and family life, I have not had a moment to write a post.   I have accumulated quite a bit of material from observations, experiences, and other activities but I have not had the time to write.

The one comfort in my life at the moment is my iPad 2 which has made travel and life a whole lot easier and better for me for the things I mentioned above: work, school, family.    I love FaceTime and the ability to video chat with friends and family…it is simply amazing!

I will be writing a few posts for distribution over the next few days but tomorrow is my last final for a class and I’ll take a breather.