First off, let me explain that you can run iPhone apps on your iPad and click on the 2X zoom button to enlarge the image but it doesn’t look very good and the big screen is wasted. Some apps work on both devices properly while there are some developers that have created iPad only apps.

So with that in mind, I wanted iPad apps that showed off the big gorgeous screen. I started with the ABC Player app (free) that allows you to watch full ABC shows. For the most part, it works fine and indeed the shows look pretty good on the screen. However, I did get this error below while watching one of the ABC shows.

NBC also has an app for free that allows you to watch full episodes of NBC shows. This app also has the NBC schedule, games and photos. Strangely, there is no iPad app for CBS, but CBS News and 60 Minutes (not free) both have their own apps. Even the local CBS station has a free app called CBSLA. However, as you can see below, the app has a lot to be desired compared to the other apps.

As for news, ABC News, ABC LA 7, AP, USA Today, LA Times and tons of other news iPad apps are available. For local news, the LA Times is good, but the AP app has a great user interface and looks great on the iPad screen. All of them are free.

For people who have Hulu+ or Netflix, those apps are also available and allow you to watch tons of movies, documentaries and TV shows. As on your computer or PS3, the Netflix app allows you to see and manipulate your “Instant Queue” as well as recommended movies and shows, as shown below.

Strangely, there are no iPad versions of the app for UPS, USPS, Southwest Airline, Instagram or Paypal. No iPad version for Paypal? Strange. But there are iPad versions of the app for eBay, Amazon, Chase, Bank of America, Twitter and of course Facebook. The Facebook app is completely different from the iPhone version and designed around the big screen. So it’s mostly a wash unless the app you want is missing.

All in all, for the most part, the iPad version of the apps are great looking and work a lot better than the iPhone version, which is designed for a smaller screen.  If you have an iPad and haven’t yet upgraded your apps to the iPad versions, be sure to get on that.

Everything looked okay at first, and I was on page 2 of the form as shown below.

Then, when I pressed “Next” to go to page 3, I got the following error:

Microsoft OLE DB Provider for ODBC drivers error ’80004005′

[Microsoft][ODBC SQL Server Driver][SQL Server]Transaction (Process ID 125) was deadlocked on lock | communication buffer resources with another process and has been chosen as the deadlock victim. Rerun the transaction.

/pages/insert.asp, line 838

Whoops. I tried going back and re-sending the page with the same results. Perhaps, they were doing some maintenance on the page.

Maybe they should log these errors to a file and show a more user friendly message. Or not.

Later, I got another email referring to the fact that I didn’t take the survey and wanting me to take it. Sorry, but you only get one chance to waste my time. Fool me once… well you know the rest.

Unfortunately, I looked at the price more recently and it has gone up to $44 on ebags.com but you might be able to find it cheaper elsewhere.

As usual, I digress.

This bag has a padded compartment for the iPad with a zipper, and 2 other zippered compartments in front, as shown in the STM promo picture of their product below.

The larger of the 2 compartments have smaller pockets for pens, thumb drives, and a clip for your keys. The zipper for this pocket goes all the way down so you can open it wider than the front pocket which is smaller. It’s supposed to be used for your iPhone (according to STM) but I think having to unzip the pocket to get your phone is inconvenient at best.

The shoulder straps rotate so they don’t get tangled and the padding is nice, although the iPad is not so heavy that you need padding. You can remove the shoulder straps and use the handles or tuck the handles away if you don’t want to use them.

Here is STM’s promo video for this bag:

The quality is very high with this bag and so far, I’ve been very happy with it. However, it is very thin and the pockets do not expand. With my thick wallet on the inside pocket, it restricts items in the outside pocket to very thin items. If I try to put anything in there that’s thicker than an iPhone, it does not fit properly. I wish they made the pockets expand like some bags that I’ve owned in the past.

If you have a thin wallet, and don’t plan on carrying around anything thick, this is a good way to carry around your iPad.

Next time: My solution to carrying my phone with this bag

This is a new dish called Seafood & Calamari Kuro Curry. Kuro in Japanese is “black” and the black ink used in this curry is from squid ink. It sounds gross but it’s actually a nice change from the regular curry. One of the waitresses told me that squid ink is used in dishes in Japan but she personally doesn’t like it mixed with curry because she can’t taste it in the mix. I’m not familiar with squid ink so it tastes fine to me.

If you like calamari and seafood, and want to try something a different from the regular curry, try this dish.

Curry House
123 S. Onizuka St. #204, Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 620-0855
Map

If you sit at the sushi bar, the first thing you will notice is that the sushi chefs are standing in a lower pit which makes them about the same height as the sitting customers, as shown below.

According to their website, Yabu makes their own soba noodles in-house. So I decided to order the Yabu Soba combination which comes with soba, tempura and sushi, as shown below.

Surprisingly, the soba was amazingly ordinary. In fact, it didn’t even make my top 10 list. Maybe I’ve gotten too used to pre-made soba and I don’t know what freshly made soba is supposed to taste like. At least the sushi was consistent with the soba and very forgettable. Don’t get me wrong. All the ingredients were fresh. Just nothing to write home about.

My friend got the Sushi combination shown above. As you can see, the selections are mediocre and so is the quality.

If you’re a big soba fan, you can simply skip this place. And according to their website, they have another branch in West Hollywood but I don’t think I need to check it out any time soon.

Yabu Restaurant
11820 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles CA 90064
310-473-9757
yaburestaurant.com

The picture below shows a  closeup of the seat. I don’t really like the light color in the middle because I’m sure it will get dirty as the car ages. My old Matrix had a seat that was entirely charcoal which hid stains a lot better.

Closeup of seat

The next picture (below) is a USB/phone jack station on the passenger side of the car. It’s a good place to put your phone while you use the USB to charge it. I’ve never had this feature before and I’ve always had to put my phone in the cup holder in the past. It might have been better if the plug was facing towards the right instead of towards the seat.

USB and Phono Jack

The next picture is the middle rear passenger seat belt which hangs from the ceiling in the back area. I’ve never seen this before but apparently this is a new safety requirement for new cars. It’s a little ugly but safety first.

Rear 3rd Passenger Seat Belt

As you can see below, the left side of the steering wheel has the radio volume control, mode and cursor, and below that cluster is the voice control, and cell phone controls. This is the first car I’ve had that has the volume control on the steering wheel and it’s very convenient. Looking down at the radio to change the station and volume can be very dangerous while driving. You can control the navigation, make calls via blue tooth, and play music all by voice control. The other 2 buttons allows you to answer/hang-up the phone.

Left Controls on Steering Wheel

The voice control does not work very well. If you are searching for something very simple like “Restaurant,” it will work. However, you will have to slowly grind down the multi-levels to get to what you want. Since the voice recognition is so bad, it will give you a list of possible choices. Then you can choose one by the number. It’s still easier than trying to type on the touch screen (more on that next time) but it can get frustrating. Too bad they didn’t put Siri into the car.

The right side on the steering wheel (see below) has the temperature control, and controls to navigate on the top display. Again, I like having the controls on the wheel but they also have a big temperature wheel below the Nav display.

Right Controls on Steering Wheel

While on the topic of the steering wheel, unlike my last Toyota, it is not perfectly round, and is slightly oval. Apparently, this is the new cool way to make steering wheels but if you like to let the wheel turn quickly under your hands after a turn, it won’t work as you would normally expect. Also, the silver plastic portion of the steering wheel feels and sound like cheap plastic… because it is.

The usual electric door locks and windows are there in the next picture below. As with most cars these days, the driver side window will automatically open without having to hold the button. You can also lock the windows for the passengers so they can’t open them.

Electric Window and Door Locks

Below the gear shift, there are 2 buttons: ECO mode and EV mode. When in EV mode, the car tries to use electric power only but cannot go faster than about 25 mph. Therefore, it’s very hard to stay in this mode unless you are driving in a parking lot or practically in a parking lot on the freeway. If you drive too fast, it will automatically get out of EV mode. I have not been able to use this mode for very long in real life situations.

The ECO mode tries to save gas by limiting the use of the air conditioner and acceleration. When I tried using it, I really didn’t notice too much difference but I wasn’t trying to drive very fast. How much fuel it really saves is not clear.

ECO and EV Modes

For some reason, unlike the old Prius, Toyota decided to make a big-ass gear shift. I’m not sure why they chose this design because it takes up a lot of space in the tiny subcompact. That space could have been used better. In fact, because the space between seats is so narrow, they took the cup holders and put it above the gear shift. This makes it very hard to grab your drink while driving. I liked the design of the Matrix better where the cup holders where below the gear shift.

Shift

Between the seats is the usual storage space and arm rest. My old Matrix had a thin top compartment and a deep lower compartment. The Prius c has no top compartment and the deep compartment is much skinnier and barely fits a sunglass case. I really miss the top compartment because digging into the deep compartment is a lot harder when trying to find something quickly. What the Prius c does have is the arm rest that slides forward. Frankly, if I could only have one, I’ll take the top compartment instead of the sliding arm rest.

The picture below is an ultra-close-up of the dash material. It looks like some type of fake plastic snake skin. The color doesn’t really turn me on and I’m sure it will get dirty quickly. If this was Toyota’s idea of trying to make the car look less cheap, it didn’t work.

Dash Material

The next picture is the top display located above the dash, inset back so that it is protected from the sun. The left side is the speedometer and fuel gauge, and the right color display can show a variety of status information about the car. The picture shows one called the “Eco” screen which is basically a game that helps you try to get higher scores by driving more economically. I’ve managed to get 94 out of 100 but it’s hard to get anything higher in real world driving conditions. To get high scores, you have to start up slowly, cruise without too much change in speed, then stop by applying the brake very slowly. Nobody drives like that all the time, but it trains your brain into driving the way you need to, in order to save gas.

Top Display

Both displays in this area are very easy to see and shows tons of information. It would have been nicer if the MPG and gas gauge were also using the high resolution screen (instead of the cheaper LCD), but I guess they have to save a few bucks here and there.

So far, I am averaging about 52-54 MPG per month. Interestingly, the more city driving I do, the higher the MPG. The more fast freeway driving I do, the lower the MPG. At first, it’s counter intuitive, but obviously, the “c” in Prius c stands for “city” and indeed, it was designed to work well in city conditions as advertised.

The last picture is the big color navigation screen and the climate control below it. I will go into detail about the Entune and Navigation screen in the next installment. All I will say now is that unlike the top display, this display is not inset so the sun glare often makes it almost impossible to see the screen. Even in the picture below, you can see the glare of the screen. The GPS in the Navigation system works fantastic, compared to the GPS in my cell phone. There must be some huge GPS antenna on top of the vehicle.

As for the climate control, I’ve never had one before and having it computerized is great. The only thing that is strange is the crazy big temperature wheel they put to the left. With the steering wheel temperature control buttons, why is this big wheel needed? If it’s for the passenger, it should be on the right side. It just seems to waste a lot of space for no reason.

Bottom Display

One small feature that I really miss is automatic headlights that turn on when it’s dark. It’s bad enough that I have to remember to turn on my lights at night, I have to manually turn it on when I go into underground garages or tunnels. Also missing are the multiple compartments in my Matrix that allowed me to store a bunch of stuff hidden from view.

Another difference is the rear blind spots, which are much larger than my old Matrix.

In conclusion, there are a many things I like with the Prius c, including:

• Keyless entry
• Navigation
• Climate control
• Steering wheel controls (including volume and answer call)
• Gas mileage
• USB outlet

Some of the things I don’t like are:

• Narrow width making seating less comfortable
• No automatic headlights
• Location of cup holders
• Lack of thin top compartment under middle arm rest
• No hidden compartments to store items

All in all, if you want an attractive looking Hybrid that gets great mileage in the city, as well as on the highway, but don’t want to spend a ton of money, this is the vehicle for you. It has a lot of features that are only found on more expensive models at a very reasonable price. But the low price does mean a few shortcuts have been made so there is no mistaking this car for a luxury vehicle.

Next time: Entune and Navigation

The picture below is the real wasabi used at Kula. They only give you a tiny dab because real wasabi is expensive. It’s also really strong compared to the fake stuff.

Next time you’re at a sushi restaurant, checkout their wasabi. If it doesn’t look like the wasabi pictured above, it’s fake wasabi.

But I digress.

Basically, the new iPad looks and feels like the iPad 2, except it’s slightly heavier and thicker. At least that’s what I’ve been told. Since this is my first one, it feels a tad heavy but sturdy and not flimsy or cheap. What I really like is that it’s not flat like the iPhone 4, which I hated because it was difficult to pick it up from a table.

As you can see below, the iPad is smooth and rounded, making it very easy to pickup. The speaker is on the back and is loud enough to hear your Youtube video or movie if you’re in a quiet room. However, if you’re at a noisy environment, you will need to put on your ear buds or headphones.

As everyone is already touting, the screen is amazing to look at. Looking at a high resolution picture, and zooming in on a spot has a satisfying feeling that is hard to describe or reproduce in any other way. The CPU is the same speed as the iPad 2 but they have put a faster GPU in there and it’s worth it. Scrolling through pictures and browsing websites are so smooth that it puts many laptops to shame. This is the way all tablets and laptops should feel.

If you don’t have an iPhone or never used iOS, it might take a minute for you to figure out the user interface. Otherwise, everything works exactly the same except the screen is massive in comparison to the iPhone. One thing that I had forgotten is how much better the multi-tasking switching works on iOS compared to Android. On my Samsung Epic 4G, I often find it frustrating when I return to an app and it has restarted and requires me to re-enter data that was already entered. The task switching on the iOS works a lot better, although not as good as Palm (HP) webOS.

One other notable difference is the way cut-and-paste works. If you hold your finger over the text, you will get a magnifying glass to help you select what you want. On Android, the little cursor that comes up is a lot harder to move and place where you want.

One of the first things I got for my iPad was the dock for $30 from Apple. Since it’s from Apple, I figured it was the one to get. Wrong. Unlike my dock for my Epic 4G, which works like a charm, this dock is very hard to use. First, you have to line up the connector with the iPad, which sounds easy but is very difficult to do because there is no physical guide. Next, even when you think you have it plugged in, you’re not sure because the iPad says “Not charging.” More on that later. To make maters worse, the iPad is so big and heavy in comparison to the light dock, it does not feel safe to touch the screen while it is on the dock. This dock is a fail in my book.

The next accessory I got was the iPad smart cover from Apple for $40. This is a genius accessory for the iPad and is probably a no brainer for most people. It protects your screen, props up your iPad when typing, and props up vertically for viewing videos: All-in-one. If you tap on the screen too hard, it may cause the unit to fall over so be careful.

However, notice the picture below, which shows the wrong way to prop up your iPad with the smart cover. I was doing it this way and it kept falling down until I looked at the sample pictures and realized it should wrap around from the bottom in the reverse order.

Wrong way to use cover

The on-screen keyboard used in portrait mode is large and easy to use. In fact, I can almost type as fast as touch typing on the iPad on-screen keyboard. If you are holding the iPad up with your hands, you can switch to a split keyboard mode (shown below), which will allow you to use both thumbs to type on the screen. It’s a lot slower but still faster than using one finger.

If you’re too lazy to type, you can use the voice dictation key on the left side of the keyboard. It’s not Siri, but it does work pretty well in a quiet environment. Of course, it’s using a dictionary so it won’t recognize weird or made-up words, but it works pretty well for regular dictionary words. You can also end your sentences by saying “period” or “exclamation.” Of course, if your dictation includes the word “period,” it will get confused. Hell, I’m sure some secretaries would get confused too.

As for battery life, unless you are watching movies for hours, you will easily be able to make it through a day without having to re-charge the battery. In fact, I can make it through several days without charging with my light usage. However, if you let it get down low to nearly dead, an overnight charge will NOT bring it back to 100%. In fact, when you first plug it in, the indicator says “Not Charging.” I’m not sure if this is so that it trickle charges the battery very slowly to help it’s life, or something else weird that’s going on. In any case, this can be a little annoying.

Some users have complained about the unit getting too hot to use. Since I didn’t use an iPad 2 for more than a few minutes, I can’t really compare the 2 versions in this regard. Since the GPU is different, and the battery is apparently bigger, it would make sense that the new iPad would get hotter. I’m so used to using crazy hot laptops that the temperature of the new iPad doesn’t bother me. I also don’t use it on my lap so it’s not touching my body directly.

Just like the iPhone, the iTunes store has enough music, video and apps to keep you busy for months or maybe even years. By now, if you want to do just about anything with your iPad, there’s an app for that. It might not be the iPad version, but you can download an iPhone version and there’s a “2X” button to double the size so you can see it better. No other mobile platform has as many apps.

Speaking of downloading, the way e-magazines and e-books are handled is smooth as silk. This is certainly the beginning of the death of printed news papers, magazines and eventually books. They are going the way of the CDs and DVDs. Why would I buy a physical book when my e-book allows me to do a global search on the entire book in a second? And not to mention carry around all my books with me where ever I go.

Yes, the iPad is more expensive than many of it’s competitors, but sometimes when you want the best performance on the best screen, you have to pay for it. I’m very happy with my purchase so far.

Next time: iPad apps

Apparently, Kula is a big successful chain in Japan, and they are determined to bring the same formula to the US as this is the 3rd branch in the Los Angeles area.

The concept is beautifully simple. All the sushi is pre-made and only costs $2 for each plate. The plates go around the entire restaurant on a revolving conveyor belt type system like at a factory. One difference here is they have figured out how to put booths next to them so that a group of 4 people can sit at a table instead of having to sit at the counter.

This place is small just like Frying Fish so come early or you will be on the second page of the waiting list. Once seated, they will bring you a soy sauce plate with a dab of wasabi. Since I found out that most places serve fake wasabi paste, I’ve been observing the wasabi carefully. The one they serve here is real freshly grated so it’s stranger than what some people are probably used to.

The sushi here is made properly, and the fish is fresh and tasty. The only thing I noticed is that sometimes they use parts that they would throw away at more upscale sushi places. You will see more fat or pieces that look like it should have been cut a little differently. That’s what you get for $2. If you don’t like how they look, go elsewhere and pay $4 to $6.

Obviously, for $2, you don’t get large portions. In fact, the Uni is only one piece (not 2) and the Ikura (see picture) is half cucumber. The tako (octopus) is not wrapped with a strip of sea weed, which I guess saves money and a little time to make. There’s nothing horrible about any of these little things. Just ways to save a little money.

As readers of this site knows I always check for free hot green tea. Well, unfortunately, not only is the tea $2 (like everything else), it’s also made from powder. That’s a big no-no in my book. I have to assume this is cheaper or they’d probably do it the old way. Strange how they use real wasabi but fake tea.

In any case, even with the powder tea, I still recommend this place for people who want to try inexpensive sushi without committing to a giant roll, or are in a bit of a hurry but still want fresh sushi.

Kula Revolving Sushi Bar – Little Tokyo Branch
333 E 2nd St
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 290-9631
Hours: Mon-Thu, Sun 11 am – 10:30 pm, Fri-Sat 11 am – 11 pm
www.kura-corpo.co.jp/us/

Before getting to the juicy stuff, let me explain why I selected the Drobo instead of another NAS (Network Attached Storage) RAID. One of the biggest problems with traditional RAID is that you cannot mix and match different sized drives. So when I wanted to upgrade my Buffalo, I would have had to replace all the drives simultaneously. Drobo has a new system called BeyondRAID which allows the user to mix and match different sized drives, as well as add or replace drives on the fly without having to re-format all the drives like in traditional RAIDs. These features alone makes this RAID the best on the market, in my opinion.

The MSRP for the Drobo FS is $699 but Fry’s had it for $499. Luckily for me, they also happened to have a sale on Seagate 2TB drives for $149. These drives are fast and very quiet. The only problem was that it was limited to one per customer.

This is where I used my real world hacking talents to find a guy that let me buy 2 at a time. So I bought 2, then put them in my car, then came back and got 2 more from the same guy. That’s 8TB for $600. Nice.

It doesn’t hurt that the Drobo also looks cool compared to my old Buffalo, which looked like it was from the 80′s. As you can see in the back of the Drobo, it has the power switch (which is a toggle), the Ethernet port and even a slot for a laptop locking cable.

Setup was as ridiculously easy. Install the Drobo Dashboard software (more on that later), insert the drives into the front of the unit, then plug in the unit and toggle the power switch to turn it on. The Drobo accepts any 3.5″ SATA drive, even mix and match different sizes, and manufacturers. The drives slips into the slots bareback and without any screws.

The LED lights start to flash and after a little while, it’s ready for use. The big lights next to the drive give the current status of each drive. The green (or red if there’s a problem) LED on the left bottom is the status of the entire Drobo unit. The green LED on the right bottom is the network access indicator, and the blue lights at the bottom show how full the drives are. It’s a nice touch that you can see how much space you have without having to use your computer.

One thing that was a little strange is the front panel comes off completely and sticks back on with magnets. The first time I took it off, I thought I broke the door. It’s also a little hard to remove since the magnets are pretty strong.

The Drobo Dashboard software that comes with the unit allows you to setup and change the settings of the Drobo, as well as look at the current status. You can also have it email you when something goes wrong.

Drobo also includes a backup utility called Drobo PC Backup that will automatically backup your files to the Drobo in the background. It has the usual features to select the folders for backup and restoring from your backup. It also allows for a second backup drive to be setup so that you can backup your data on multiple drives. You can only install this software on 3 computers for free so if you have more, you may have to buy a license.

There were a couple of minor annoyances that I’ll mention. When you use the Windows file system to see the size of the Drobo FS drive, you will get some large size that doesn’t correlate to anything. In the list below, you can see that the total size shown for the drive is 16TB. I have 4 x 2TB drives + a 250GB = 8.25TB, and certainly not 16TB.

To see the actual size of the drive, you have to go into the Drobo Dashboard as shown below. As you can see, out of the 8.25TB, only 5.63TB is actually available for my data, with 1.04TB being used currently. It’s not a big deal since the blue LED lights on the unit tells you how full the drive is at all times, but it’s a little annoying.

The other problem is once in a while, the drive will disconnect from the network and will have to be re-booted. I had this same problem with my Buffalo NAS drive so this might be a problem with Windows, or even my router.

Drobo’s website also has some apps you can load onto your Drobo unit. Since the Drobo is a Linux-based box, you can run Linus programs on it to make it a local home server or media server. However, Drobo does not support these 3rd party applications so unless you know what you are doing, it’s better to let the professionals play with these toys.

So far, everything has worked as advertised and I’m very happy with my purchase. I’ve backed up my desktop and 2 laptops, and copied a bunch of files onto the NAS without any problems. To test it further, I added a small 250GB drive into the 5th and last slot to see how easily I can add drives. Just plug in the drive and the Drobo takes care of the rest. It can’t be any easier. I love it.

Drobo’s BeyondRAID technology is clearly the way of the future. I’m completely sold on it. If you’re looking for a NAS RAID, the only decision is what model Drobo to choose. It’s a no-brainer.