Want an iPad? Pet-loving reasons to rationalize it
By Ericka Basile
April 8, 2010
It ’s been almost five days since I was at our local Apple store and had my hands on an iPad. I miss it. Sleek, glossy, futuristic. Love at first sight. (That’s my son, Nico, and me at the Apple store on April 3, the day the iPad came out.)
My friends and family know me as a Mac Geek. Mac Goddess, I prefer, but they can call me what they want. Yes, I swoon when I get near a Mac, Macbook Air, or iPhone. Months of waiting for the iPad ended last weekend. Now, I wait for the 3G version to debut next month. Then, I will bring my baby home.
What in the world does this have to do with pets? Everything.
This is how I forecast the iPad revolutionizing the animal world. Pipe in and share your ideas. It’s OK if you are a PCer. You still can have a place at the table. Let’s look at the list of magical (to steal from Steve Jobs’ phrase) things the iPad will do for us pet lovers.
You will have your iPad with you all the time, much as you do now with your iPhone. You’ll carry it in your purse, tote, backpack or just in a cool case.
Unlike your tethered computer, awkward laptop, or small screen iPhone, the iPad opens up new worlds.
Photos: You are in a coffee shop meeting a friend. You show him the latest photos of your kids (four-legged.) Awww, look at that, wait … zoom in … OMG, he is so amazing running leaping through the agility course. Look at that detail. Show me more.
Vets: Somebody else on our Pet Connection team will have more to say here, but I do know doctors (human variety) and veterinarians will use the iPad for amazing things.
Exam room 1: Tracking patient records is a snap, she can quickly pull up previous photos of a corneal cut on your pet’s eye from last week to then compare this week in the exam room.
Exam Room 2: Patient follow-up. A 3-pound Chihuahua needs phenobarbital compound script adjustment. Veterinarian pulls up medication details and e-mails new script to compound pharmacy.
Social: We live in a virtual world now. Keeping up with friends via e-mail, Facebook, reading blogs such as Pet Connection (as seen at right on the iPad.) Constant access, anywhere; in the car line waiting to pick up kids at school, outside on bench waiting for your mother-in-law to buy meat at the “only butcher worth a damn,” at a lecture in which the speaker reads from the notes he handed out (yawn). Push the magic button and the iPad opens the world to you. Chat, text, post, e-mail, browse. Read Dr. Becker and Gina’s next book. Watch YouTube to see how to build a rabbit hutch.
The competitive dog-owner: They live and breathe the competition. Check stats — who’s the best agility dog, who won at what show, what are the results from a working competition — it’s all there. I would have SO loved to have the iPad six years ago when I lived and breathed every word written by the Chinese Shar Pei Club of America. I investigated breeders like I was in the FBI. With the iPad I would have been even more obsessed.
After I found our breeder she and I e-mailed all the time and I lived for photo updates. With the iPad, I could have really gone nuts and been online 24/7. I can see it now, without waking my hubby, I could have quietly grabbed my iPad at 1 a.m., scooched under the covers to view the latest video my breeder has sent of Bella and Gigi playing with their litter mates. Or I could have read for hours on what was wrong with a given breed, health issues or the how to avoid behavior problems with socialization, the vaccine debates. All of it!
Rescue connections: Going to visit my friend Denny at his house. We will hold a Golden Retriever Rescue of Southwest Florida meeting. One topic on the agenda is a transfer need for an oldie-goldie named Baxter. Denny can pull up Mapquest and pass the iPad around so we can see a map of south Florida and Baxter’s journey. We each can make plans right there and each split up the drive to bring Baxter to his forever home.
Travel: On the road with my dogs to visit my parents in Alabama. Uh-oh. Dogs are getting restless. We need an unplanned real break. I would love to find a dog park; a clean nice dog park. I pull up dogfriendly.com and Google a street view map of a dog park. Zoom in. Looks good. Ready to go play for an hour and stretch all our legs. Eeks, the dog park was fun but hidden in the back of the park was a lake of mud. Didn’t expect that. Grab my iPad and look up ‘Do It Yourself Dog Wash.’ There, back on the road.
Shopping: I’m out shopping at a trendy dog boutique and find an amazing turquoise crystal dog collar. Gosh, my little Coco will look so good in that. $80? Geez. Hmmm. While in store Google ‘turquoise crystal dog collar’ and find the same collar online for only $29.99.
Looking for lost pets/want to adopt a pet: PetFinder.com never looked so good. I’m at my friend Janet’s house having cocktails and her neighbor, Michelle, has joined us. She mentions she has been looking for two months to adopt a Lab. I ask Michelle if she likes black labs. “Yes.” Would you consider a heartworm positive dog? We talk about it and she says “Yes, I really would.” I pull out my iPad, click Petfinder.com and pass it over to her. She scrolls and finds Shadow. The photo is a little hard to see (as with most black dogs and cats in those tiny thumbnail photos,) so she zooms in. Ah, now she can see the sparkle of his eyes. She loves him. 
Woof!
Games: Open an App and play a game such as Simon’s Cat in Purrfect Pitch game. (Remember that funny YouTube video of the cat Nora who played the piano? Now there is a cat playing piano App.) Let your kids, nephew, or teenager play with the iPad on your drive to Costco. Heck, ask your tween to create an App for the iPad about pets. I bet they can.
Reading: Sorry, the rumor is true. Print magazines and print newspapers are going bye-bye. Heck, I closed my own Naples dog magazine last year. At Barnes and Noble in Naples last weekend, I was chatting (in person!) with my friend Bill, who works there. We talked about the mag racks. Our B&N has the second highest volume mag sales in the United States, after NYC. Bill says their store rack footprint is expected to shrink drastically this year.
Get ready for your daily news and pet information all on the Internet. (Photo at right: front page of The New York Times on the iPad April 3, 2010.) Yep, that is a dog photo on the front page. If you had an iPad and were reading this column I am posting, you could pinch and zoom in and see what the article is about. You could read your news while at the dentist office. Or in line at the post office. Or sitting in your kitchen waiting for your dog’s home cooked chicken livers to boil (is that how you cook them?) on the stove.
Can’t afford it? The least expensive is $499. Go into your garage and closets and find some junk (um, treasure) and sell it on eBay. They say (I used to be a powerseller on eBay) every person has at least $300 worth of stuff that would sell on eBay. You’re almost there. Make your own lunch for a month, let your roots grow out, skip the movies, eat bologna.
Do whatever you need to. It’s that cool, baby. Then, send me an email from your iPad. Woof!
You are evil. But I would still need my netbook to write stuff on…
Comment by Kim Thornton — April 8, 2010 @ 8:49 am
I also told her she was EVIL. I’m trying so very hard to resist … want … iPad … now.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — April 8, 2010 @ 8:56 am
Come to the dark side.
Comment by Ericka Basile — April 8, 2010 @ 9:30 am
There is a really good health reason to justify buying an iPad. It is easier to read than your smartphone. The small print on my BlackBerry is getting harder to read as I get older (wah!). But the iPad will be easy to read! I wonder if I can get a prescription from my eye doctor for an iPad and then submit the claim to my health insurance??!!!!
I think I will be able to make an iPad a business expense. I will be able to put all my clients’ info (feeding regime, veterinarian, emergency contacts, etc) on it so I can just carry my iPad on my pet-sitting rounds, instead of a binder full of papers. And I can have pictures of all my clients in case one would get lost.
I really, really, really want one but will have to wait until the prices come down.
Comment by Amy Suggars — April 8, 2010 @ 9:34 am
Too bad it’s having so many problems. I will wait until they work the bugs out.
Comment by Liz Palika — April 8, 2010 @ 10:01 am
Welllllll…I’m not so sure. I’ve heard it’s truly not much more than a large ipod touch, with a huge battery and and itty bitty circuit board.
But I’ll wait to see what people do with it, I can always be converted. :O)
I’ll stick with my laptop and my nook(www.nook.com)for now.
Comment by Original Lori — April 8, 2010 @ 10:08 am
It’s more alluring for me because I don’t have an iPod or Kindle (yes, I live in the technological dark ages).
Comment by Kim Thornton — April 8, 2010 @ 11:04 am
I do, too. I took printed reading material — newspaper, mags, books — on my recent trip to Orlando.
OK, gotta be honest: And an iPod for the tunes.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — April 8, 2010 @ 11:45 am
I took my Zen to Africa because it had audiobooks on it, but I also took books/mags and didn’t resort to the Zen until I had finished reading the real thing.
Comment by Kim Thornton — April 8, 2010 @ 12:16 pm
I hate to harsh the new tech gadget squee, but the iPad does nothing my 3G-enabled Netbook doesn’t do, my Netbook was cheaper, and it has a full keyboard. I can’t see the advantage…
Comment by Christie Keith — April 8, 2010 @ 12:55 pm
Since I travel in and out of several (3 to 5) buildings each day with laptop that weighs 4+lbs. My back says, “hey, and ipad would do everything you need it to do and would weigh much less.” Maybe I can hook up a camera and watch Big D counter surfing at home via my ipad.
Comment by Verde — April 8, 2010 @ 1:09 pm
No one’s harshing my squee. This. Will. Be. Mine.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — April 8, 2010 @ 1:14 pm
I’m totally with Christie. The iPad has the considerable benefit of the viral Apple “you gotta have it right this minute or the world will have passed you by” buzz. It’s an iTouch on steroids and, uh, that’s it. My next gadget purchase will almost certainly be a netbook.
Comment by David S. Greene — April 8, 2010 @ 1:18 pm
You’re both fired.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — April 8, 2010 @ 1:52 pm
Tell me: You have a desktop. Let’s say you do not have a netbook. Or, if you do have a netbook it is a Dell brick.
You want to carry the Internet with you. Would you buy an iPad or your first netbook? They are both right there on the table in front of you. What does your hand reach out for?
I think the majority of NEW computer technology buyers will choose the iPad. Apple geeks such as yours truly will buy an iPad even if we have a laptop (nod to David- I admit, I can not breathe without the latest coolest tech gadget by Apple.)
The rest of market- They will wait. Maybe for finances, or the 2.0 future version, or until camera or flash or whatever doesn’t make it perfect right now. But, they too, will eventually get an iPad.
How serious am I in this vision? Instead of buying one this month, I instead bought stock in Apple and domain names related to the iPad. Sure, I want the iPad. Now. But, I believe in it so much (I just “get it!”) that I will invest in it’s future. I’ll get it within the next two months. (I am about to start selling stuff on eBay again to do it!)
Having the world in your hands is pretty cool. Kinda like when TV’s came out. Yes, TV’s had improvements to make such as offering color instead of B&W…but they changed the world. The iPad will too. Aren’t we all posting on a blog…. hmmm ;)
We will live and breathe most of our work and social life on the iPad.
Thank goodness for kids and pets, otherwise I might never come up for air.
Comment by Ericka Basile — April 8, 2010 @ 2:00 pm
LOL, just saw that Gina
Comment by Ericka Basile — April 8, 2010 @ 2:00 pm
You want to carry the Internet with you. Would you buy an iPad or your first netbook? They are both right there on the table in front of you. What does your hand reach out for?
The Netbook. It has a keyboard.
Comment by Christie Keith — April 8, 2010 @ 2:12 pm
The iPad does too. I used it. The keystroke feedback is not the same as a band bang keyboard. But, I never took typing class; I look at the keyboard as I type.
Comment by Ericka Basile — April 8, 2010 @ 4:56 pm
It’s a “virtual” keyboard that takes up half the screen… I mean, I’d choose the Netbook because it has a real keyboard. You asked. I’m just saying.
Comment by Christie Keith — April 8, 2010 @ 5:03 pm
I hear ya. But virtual half the screen is ok in my book.
I don’t know how to make hyperlinks in comments,
http://www.smh.com.au/news/mob.....22543.html
http://www.popfi.com/2010/02/1.....ell-phone/
but above are some articles on the trend in Japan for writers to type novels (not saying they are great writing, but they are bestsellers) using their thumbs on their cellphones. I mean, if they can do that, well…a virtual keyboard on an iPad for people such as myself (not writing a novel, nor expecting to use the iPad for intense work…) is pretty darned great.
The iPad is for browsing the Internet and writing/ typing emails, on a blog, facebook, etc.)
I can see a good point…what the heck…for travel and intense work…hmm.. I may have to give there.
But as to the rest, I’m a fan.
Comment by Ericka Basile — April 8, 2010 @ 5:22 pm
ooh, the links happened by themselves. Cool blog we’ve got here.
Comment by Ericka Basile — April 8, 2010 @ 5:23 pm
“Sorry, the rumor is true. Print magazines and print newspapers are going bye-bye. Heck, I closed my own Naples dog magazine last year.”
I would have to disagree. I still love the feel of my Vogue Magazine when it comes each month and I am a bit embarrassed to admit even thought the same info is available online, I also like to indulge in the “gossip” mags like People and Us Weekly! Magazines aren’t going away because people aren’t going to bring their iPad to the beach, or lounge around on a hammock with a bulky device. I say this also because I am the owner of a Kindle, and while I enjoy it, it still can’t compare to print.
I thought you shut down Naples dog because you were trying to start up a national dog magazine (Coastal Dog?), not because you foresaw the “demise of print.” Nope, print is not going anywhere, but bad magazines and bad newspapers will not survive. People said radio would die after television was invented. They said the same thing after satellite radio came into play. Last I checked radio is alive and well!
Comment by Kate — April 9, 2010 @ 7:09 am
Yes and no. “Good” newspapers and magazines are failing, and I can tell you from personal experience that book sales have fallen, too.
Will they completely disappear? Probably not. But there’s no doubt much of the reading has gone online.
Remember: Your personal experience is only part of a picture. As for mine, I still read a lot of print, but also a lot of online. And I’ve gone from taking three newspapers to subscribing online to one (WSJ), getting one Sunday only (NYT) and reading the third entirely online (local paper). I used to get a dozen pet magazines, but now I get only The Bark. Better information is available online when it comes to pets, frankly, if you know where to look and whom to trust.
Commercial radio? I HATE IT because of loud, nerve-jangling ads. It’s NPR or my iPod. I can’t personally justify the cost of satellite radio, but when I drive a car that already has it, I love it.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — April 9, 2010 @ 7:29 am
Can’t you people talk about anything without bringing pets into it?? Sheesh!
Comment by Astro — April 9, 2010 @ 10:41 am
Can’t you people talk about anything without bringing pets into it?? Sheesh!
Comment by Astro — April 9, 2010
I had to let the pet-hating moron out of his little spam box just for some fun.
Seriously, this idiot comments 3-6 times a day about “pet freaks.” He even goes to the trouble of using a half dozen IP addies and makes up new gmail, yahoo and hotmail accounts. We barely glance at his rants before yawning and deleting them all with a click of the “empty spam” button. The stuff he sends by mail (Same guy! Obsessed much?) goes into the shredder unopened.
Dude! Get a life! See a therapist! Of course, if you had pets, you wouldn’t be such a sad and unhappy weirdo.
As to why “you people [can’t] talk about anything without bringing pets into it … “
Top of the blog, fool. This is the Pet Connection blog. Catch a clue.
He also writes constantly about how “stupid” pets are. They’re not stupid enough to comment 3-6 times a day on a pet blog when the comments are never, ever seen. Now THAT’s stupid.
Go back in your box now. Dope.
And if you ever plan on upping your game, please remember that I have a lovely shotgun, and I wouldn’t hesitate to use it if threatened at close range. Consider that “fair warning.”
The world would not miss a hate-filled moron like you, trust me on this.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — April 9, 2010 @ 11:37 am
One of my more enjoyable behind-the-scenes pastimes around here is when I get a chance to delete that nitwit’s braindead barrage of vitriolic spew (those were all big words I’m sure he doesn’t even understand) when he gets snared in the spam filter. It’s like holding a tick in tweezers and burning it with a match — I know, I’m sadistic. I’ve heard that before.
Comment by David S. Greene — April 9, 2010 @ 1:22 pm
Astro? No wonder he’s hostile, bitter even. http://missfairchild.files.wor.....astro2.jpg
Anyway. I have been debating between an IPod Touch or an IPad. What I really want is probably an IPhone, but we don’t have cell service for them way out on the frontier…
I will probably just continue to blunder along with my blackberry and my kindle (which needs to be plugged into a computer to download a book) because we don’t have cell service for them way out on the frontier.
Comment by schnauzerfan — April 9, 2010 @ 1:51 pm
Kate- Naples dog shuttered in late 2008 due to our local advertisers brick and mortar stores (pet stores, etc) going out of business and ad sales plummeted. Coastal Dog was an overlapping project I had, but it also fell to the wayside because the investors wanted to see it go digital and I held out too long vying for print.
Even the CEO of Borders and past CEO of Kibbles and Bits were working with me and kept telling me I needed to change the focus and become digital. I too, love the feel of a print magazine and held on until the wave crashed. And rolled right over me.
Then the general economy crashed and magazines started their downward spiral…wand they are not going to come back up anywhere close to where they were.
During this time, social magazines such as People, OK, etc. were about the only model which kept their advertiser rates up. Even if they lost some ad:copy rates.
The hardest hit were news magazines such as Time and, of course, newspapers.
Comment by ericka — April 9, 2010 @ 2:20 pm
“Sorry, the rumor is true. Print magazines and print newspapers are going bye-bye. Heck, I closed my own Naples dog magazine last year.”
I totally agree. I feel ebooks will replace paperbacks and hard cover books.
Comment by Sandra Smolker — May 4, 2010 @ 1:03 pm
What do you prop it on if you can’t get your knees up? LOL
Comment by Melanie — May 4, 2010 @ 1:25 pm
How many hours can you stay on before it needs to be recharged?
Comment by Sandra Smolker — May 4, 2010 @ 1:37 pm
When I wrote my ebook, Who’s Your Vet?, I was told Kindle and Sony can’t read pictures. In addition to my story and lots of useful resources, I have 21 pictures of my beautiful boys. Since the ebook can be read on-line, I’m sure the iPad is the way to go!
Comment by Sandra Smolker — May 6, 2010 @ 6:15 am
@Sandra- check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....r_embedded
It gets about 8-10 hours
@Melanie good question! It is light enough to hold, but I would read it in bed if reading a book. And then hold it like a hardcover book propped on my knees.
Comment by ericka — May 6, 2010 @ 6:48 am
Ericka, thanks for your reply. Oh my, that is too cool. Now I’m really sure the iPad will eliminate books in the very near future - especially for kids. Gotta speak to Santa this XMAS.
Comment by Sandra Smolker — May 6, 2010 @ 9:49 pm
Hi Ericka - I wrote a story about my old dog Baxter and lost my only copy of the magazine…. is it possible to buy a copy? It was in 2007, I think the spring issue. Thanks :)
Comment by Paul Goodland — August 13, 2010 @ 3:59 pm