Howdy! So I bought a new iPad about a month ago when they first came out, and I figured it was time for me to review it. Better late than never, eh?

I decided to buy the 4G Verizon LTE 32GB one in Black. It was about $750 before taxes (and before I sold my old one on eBay, ha!).

I upgraded from the first generation iPad, which I bought about 2 years ago.

I had several reasons for wanting to upgrade and stick with the Apple product line instead of going with an awesome Android tablet.
We use an app with Hak5 called PrompterPro- it was $10 and enables us to use our iPad as a cheap teleprompter. We use an iPad prompter dock with our cameras then connect via bluetooth / wireless to a iPhone or iPod that the hosts’s use during the segments. It’s great for bullet points and breaking down really obscure concepts that we’ve researched previously.
I also wanted to be able to accept credit cards at conventions without the need to connect to wireless or AT&T (service on my phone) since those aren’t very secure! This was why I chose Verizon LTE. And of course, 32GB for sharing media with other guests at cons while I work at our Hak5 booth.

On to the pros and cons of the new iPad!

Pros:

It’s beautiful- not just the screen but the tablet itself. Seriously, even if you don’t want to buy an iPad EVER, just walk in an Apple store and pick one up. It’s a pretty piece of technology. The screen really is surprising. You can’t see pixels. It’s weird.

The LTE service is FAST. Like, crazy fast. I installed the Speedtest.net app for iPhone/iPad and these were my results, sitting next to my router in my computer room. The first image is Verizon, the second test is Comcast Wireless.

The new iPad is still lightweight, like my first one. I don’t feel an overall difference.
iOS is extremely responsive. I can type and multitask pretty quickly on it without much of any delay.
After you’ve gone through the easy setup, it works out of the box. Although, I suggest plugging it in to iTunes instead of wirelessly updating your sync with the iCloud because iCloud takes way too long.
LTE can be turned on or off at anytime by just going to the settings, with no contract. This is great, because I only intend to use it at conventions. I don’t want to pay $20-$30 USD every month for that extra service if I’m just going to be sitting at home on my PC!
The front camera takes great photos with good lighting. It’s nice having such a large screen to see your photography on, and having the photos actually appear the way they should.
Apparently I can take my AT&T iPhone SIM card and stick it in my Verizon iPad and it’ll work- I haven’t tried this, but I have unlimited data with AT&T so.. maybe!

Cons:

I didn’t set up LTE service for a few weeks after getting it, and the iPad pinged me saying “You haven’t set this up yet, would you like to?”. It only happened once, but I didn’t like feeling like they were trying to upsell me on cellular usage.
I’ve noticed the charge still lasts as long as my first generation iPad with normal usage (maybe an hour or two a day, sometimes more) but I have to charge it all night to get the full charge once it’s died.
It does get hot in one corner, but it’s not scary, just obvious. It’s like having a laptop on your lap.
The new iPad is expensive! Holy Batman, if you aren’t using this for work or you already have a laptop / ebook reader, why get one? Smartphones do everything this can, so it seems like a waste of money if just bought as a toy.
The back camera is terrible. It’s blurry and pixelated in any kind of lighting.
I had trouble with Facetime. I wasn’t receiving audio out of my iPad from my friend. A restore should fix this problem.
Reading ebooks on this gives me a headache. Black and white epaper Kindle’s are way better for reading for long periods of time.

So generally- the problems I have with it are things that I can live with, but they’re still problems non-the-less. I love the iPad, I don’t regret paying what I did for it (specially after I sold my first generation iPad), and I plan to get a lot of use out of this tablet for at least a few years. I’m normally not an early adopter but in this case it was a well needed upgrade.

Not to mention, since I bought it from the local Apple store, they’ve been incredibly friendly with ‘helping me get started’. I haven’t needed any help, but this is a great add-on service I wasn’t expecting that would make anyone’s day if they really needed some extra help.

Shannon Morse hosts Hak5 on Revision3 and she co-hosts the audio podcast Bite Club Show. You can find her guest hosting various other internet shows now and then. When not geeking out with work, Shannon enjoys video games, anime, manga, traveling, building computers, and spending time with family and friends. Find more info about Shannon here.

Thursday, May 3rd at 8:00 PM

Join us for our Season 11 episode 11 party at the Baltic Pub in Point Richmond, CA! There won’t be another binary episode number of Hak5 until Season 100 in 2057!!

All ages welcome. Special nerdcore performance by Dale Chase!

The Baltic Pub, 135 Park Pl Richmond, CA 94801.

RSVP on Facebook or Add to Google Calendar.

We’re back at CES 2012 for another year of awesome tech and new gadgets. What do you want to see? We’ll be covering the show floor from Monday through Friday to being you the most up to date content on what you like most. Be on the lookout for TONS of segments, which will be airing at the Revision3 CES 2012 stream.

Darren Kitchen and I will be co-hosting a LIVE show on Wednesday afternoon at 3PM (Vegas time, baby!). It’ll be airing LIVE at the Revision3 Youtube, so make sure to watch!!

Also, if you are in the Las Vegas area, we will be having a Revision3 meetup on Thursday night. Come over to the El Diablo Cantina at the Monte Carlo Hotel at 7PM for a meet and greet. We hope to see you there!

Shannon Morse hosts Hak5 on Revision3 and she co-hosts the audio podcast Bite Club Show. You can find her guest hosting various other internet shows now and then. When not geeking out with work, Shannon enjoys video games, anime, manga, traveling, building computers, and spending time with family and friends. Find more info about Shannon here.

This past year was full of surprises, and many of the accomplishments we made are because of you, our viewers! February 15th will mark my first year living in the Bay Area, working fulltime with Hak5. Do I regret the move? Not one bit!

Since our full team has moved here, we’ve been able to spend more time working on the things that matter most. I’ve been able to spend more time developing content and less time figuring out where to record. We’ve created a web store and added several new items this year. We’ve been able to spend more time helping customers and less time doing paperwork.

And it’s all because we have viewers like you! So thank you for being such devoted fans of Hak5 and keeping our show on the net. You’ve been with us through the hard times and the high times, and I have a feeling 2012 will bring tons of great content!

We are already booked for CES 2012 and Shmoocon in Washington DC. We will have a HakShop table at your favorite hacker cons of 2012 and we’ll have plenty of new gadgets in store. We’re always looking for ways to improve the show but keep that home-grown feel from our early days, and your feedback gives us plenty of ideas. So keep it coming!

Here’s to a Happy New Year and plenty to look forward to! Happy 2012, Season’s Greetings, and Merry Christmas!!

Shannon Morse hosts Hak5 on Revision3 and she co-hosts the audio podcast Bite Club Show. You can find her guest hosting various other internet shows now and then. When not geeking out with work, Shannon enjoys video games, anime, manga, traveling, building computers, and spending time with family and friends. Find more info about Shannon here.

I enjoy watching Hak5 and HakTip, as much as the next geek. However, I am also lucky enough to be able to call the Hak crew my close friends. Seeing them make their shows, rather than just watching the end product, is both fun and inspiring. I wanted to share some of that world with you guys.

Look at the top of this page. You see the characters up there in the banner? One of them is Paul Tobias. He shoots and edits the shows. You will see him lurking around occasionally, but you dont get to see how produces Hak5 and HakTip, almost singlehandedly.

I figured that I would point my camera him for a few minutes and try to capture how he does his work.

Pay particular attention to how much he is able to shoot and accomplish, with only a crew of one, and for very little money. Notice the VESA monitor arms used for camera mounts, the iPad teleprompter, and little screens under cameras so that Darren and Shannon can try and take care of their own shot framing.

Enjoy paying attention to the man behind the curtain.

Hak5 is packed and ready for Def Con 2011! This year, Darren, Paul, and I will be in Las Vegas all weekend- from Wednesday night through Sunday- compiling a delightful Hak5 episode for you to enjoy. We hope to get some good coverage and photos, so show off your Hak5 tshirt! If you see us, make sure to stop by and say hello!

This Def Con also marks Hak5′s first on location vendor table. Make sure to stop by the vendor area and pick up some swag! We will have Wifi Pineapple V 2′s, Ubertooth One’s, Ninja Star’s, and some other odds and ends. We’ll be accepting cash and credit card.

Since the store is going to be on site at Def Con, shipments will be delayed for this week until Monday, August 8th.

DEF CON is one of the oldest continuous running hacker conventions around, and also one of the largest. DEF CON is generally in the last week of July or first week of August in Las Vegas. DEF CON 19 will be held August 4 – August 7 at the Rio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Many people arrive a day early, and many stay a day later.

Shannon Morse is a co-host of Hak5 on Revision3 and she is on the audio podcast Bite Club Show. You can also find her guest hosting various other internet shows now and then. When not geeking out with work, Shannon enjoys video games, anime, manga, traveling, building computers, and spending time with family and friends. Find more info about Shannon here.

If you’ve ever been to Comic Con, you’ll probably already know exactly what I’m about to say. WHOA! Crazy! This year, 2011, marked my very first Comic Con. I’ve been to many anime conventions, tech expos, and geek cons in the past, but nothing compares to the San Diego Comic Con. If you haven’t been to it yet, this convention that takes place in San Diego every summer, brings together the best in comics, sci-fi, fantasy, games, anime, tv, and movies. This year was quoted at about 125,000 attendees. The con-goers were able to meet their favorite actors and artists, find rare collectibles on the show floor, dress up in cosplay, and watch some great panels on their favorite topics.

I went to Comic Con for my other podcast, Bite Club Show, an audio podcast for anyone who likes vampires, werewolves, zombies, and wine. Over the course of the weekend I got to explore some very new territory.

When I first arrived at Comic Con on my first Virgin America flight, (which was awesome, by the way!) it was way too late to do much other than pass out in my hotel room. Thursday morning, I joined my friend Eileen to get our badges and get in line for Hall H, the largest room reserved for movies and television show panels. After getting my press badge and Comic Con bag (I totally social engineered someone into trading with me so I could get the Batman Arkham City bag), we met in line and stood for only an hour to

get into the Twilight Breaking Dawn panel. The panel wasn’t as exciting as what I was expecting. There weren’t that many screaming teenagers when the three main characters walked on stage. The actors got a chance to answer some viewer questions and we saw some footage from the new movie.

After the panel, we escaped and I found my way to the exhibitor room. I was able to get my hands on a rare Tokidoki vinyl figure, some other odds and ends from exhibitors, Simone Legno’s autograph (Tokidoki creator), and I met Richard Hatch (Apollo and Tom Zarek from BSG). I met up with the girls from Bite Club Show afterwards for the Live Diggnation show at the House of Blues. The show seemed a little mellow to me, but perhaps it is because of my sore feet and upset stomach from eating candy all day.

Friday consisted of Ballroom 20. That’s it. We stood in line for 2 1/2 hours to get into Ballroom 20, where we watched 6 panels: Torchwood: Miracle Day, Walking Dead, Big Bang Theory, Eureka, Warehouse 13, and True Blood. All of the panels were fun to watch, although I will admit I don’t watch all of those shows. Eileen, Stephanie, and I specifically wanted to see True Blood, so we sat in Ballroom 20 for almost 8 hours with almost nothing to eat. By the time the True Blood cast entered the stage, we were 9 rows back and got some great photos and memories! Although we were sitting in a room all day, it was still exhausting. We dragged our feet to dinner later that night at a nice little Italian place in the Gaslamp district, had some wine and food, then went to a couple of bars for drinks.

I left on Saturday night, after a fun day of picking up swag, checking out the exhibit hall once more, and watching a few more panels. I wanted to see the Vampire Diaries panel, so we went back to Ballroom 20 for that. Surprisingly, we were only in line for 2 hours and we got in! Eileen wanted to stay to watch the Fringe panel. Feeling lazy from the convention, Stephanie and I stuck around to watch as well, although we had no clue what they were talking about!

So all in all I learned some important things from my weekend away, some of which Stephanie also mentions on her page:

1. Bring comfy stuff. Good walking shoes, pants, and shirts. You probably wouldn’t need a jacket. Check the weather before coming.
2. Portability. Bring a decent bag. The Comic Con bag makes a cool keepsake for dirty laundry or to take toys home, but it’s way too big for the convention center, and too tall for my short legs.
3. Please, for the love of whomever you worship, bring soap and deodorant. Strange wafts of smelly armpits is really gross at conventions.
4. Food. Con food is expensive. A 20 oz soda cost $4.00 USD in the con center. Save some money and put it towards a sandwich and a good breakfast. Bring tons of water and keep the candy to a minimum. Your body will thank you! And if you are in a hurry to get from one side of the hall to another during peak lunch hours, you’ll stay a happy camper because you can be on the move and eating at the same time.
5. If you get a good seat, keep it. Ballrooms and Halls fill up fast. Get in line SUPER early and be ready to spend a few hours there. If you want to see one panel at 11 and another at 5pm, you better plan on staying in that room all day.
6. If you don’t have a good seat, ninja one! After every panel, Eileen, Stephanie, or I immediately got up and swooped in on the first 3 seats we could find. By the end of the day Friday we were in the 9th row. We started around 100 back. Comic Con does not empty halls between each panel.
7. Bathroom tickets. It’s kind of like leaving class with a hall pass. You have to leave out a specific door, get a ticket, and come back during that same panel with your ticket. Or else you’re screwed.
8. Some panels give out free swag. If you want to get swag for your favorite shows, stick around during the panel and they’ll give out a ticket. Take the ticket to the fulfillment room and you get something. It can be something awesome (HBO gave out bags for True Blood and Game of Thrones) or crappy (a luggage tag from Fringe). If you like the show, it’s worth it. If you don’t, give your ticket to someone that wants it. Save yourself the walk.
9. Time yourself and plan ahead! You can’t do everything. I had to miss out on a few panels and autograph signings. I regret I didn’t get to spend as much time in the exhibit hall as I wanted to. I could spend a whole day in there.
10. Treat your body well. Get a good night of rest. Don’t party all night and get trashed. You’ll regret it the next day!

Will I go back? Definitely. But next year, I want to cosplay.

You can check out all of my Comic Con 2011 photos at my facebook profile!

Shannon Morse is a co-host of Hak5 on Revision3 and she is on the audio podcast Bite Club Show. You can also find her guest hosting various other internet shows now and then. When not geeking out with work, Shannon enjoys video games, anime, manga, traveling, building computers, and spending time with family and friends. Find more info about Shannon here.

Guess who is at E3 today and tomorrow? Mr. Darren Kitchen and Mr. Paul Tobias! While I’m back in the Bay Area holding down the fort and taking care of the HakShop, Darren and Paul are covering E3 from the show floor.
So if you’re at E3, make sure to say hi! You can probably find Mr. Kitchen somewhere near Lego games, Super Mario, or Hello Kitty. And Paul is probably either rocking out with music games, giving plenty of headshots in the newest FPS, or filming Darren talking to Hello Kitty.

If they inform me of any meetups to be had, I’ll be sure to post it here.

E3 Expo is the world’s premier trade show for computer and video games and related products.
The show is owned by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the U.S. association dedicated to serving the business and public affairs needs of the companies, publishing interactive games for video game consoles, handheld devices, personal computers, and the Internet.

Shannon Morse is a co-host of Hak5 on Revision3 and she is on the audio podcast Bite Club Show. You can also find her guest hosting various other internet shows now and then. When not geeking out with work, Shannon enjoys video games, anime, manga, traveling, building computers, and spending time with family and friends. Find more info about Shannon here.

Join the Hak5 crew as we celebrate our Bay Area arrival and the beginning of season 9!

LIVE PERFORMANCES from Nerdcore sensations Dual Core and Dale Chase

Saturday April 2nd at 7:00pm

The Hotsy Totsy Club
601 San Pablo Ave
Albany, CA 94706

Ring in the ninth season with cocktails, nerdcore and technolust!

21 and up. Bring your friends

RSVP at Facebook

Darren Kitchen, hacker and host of tech show Hak5, says why hacking isn’t the same thing as cyber crime. Jorge Ribas sits down with him to find out the difference.

Read on to watch the video.

Hak5 will be LIVE at Virginia Tech this Saturday, November 7th. Join us at 7:00 PM for the best of networking, hacking and homebrew and Q&A. We’ll be in Torgersen 2150 on the Virginia Tech campus in Blackburg, VA. Then later at 9:00 we’ll be for the first time experiencing Bar Golf, a VT tradition that we would love to see you at. So lock down your firewalls and get ready for some Technolust as Hak5 begins the campus invasion. See you there!

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