I spent the better half of the last week in Melbourne for work. It was an interesting change of pace, as it's the first time i've done any significant travel for work, and made slightly more tolerable by a successful trip and awesomely cool whether down there last week.

The next few weeks will see me travelling around to all the other offices as we roll out some new software that I am doing the deployment and training for. I can't say i'm really looking forward to it, but he experience will do me good.

This past weekend has also seen me start watching The Big Bang Theory. Many people over the past year have suggested that I start watching it (i'm pretty much it's target geek audience), but I really haven't had any desire to 'get into' another show. However the incessant breaks in the US screening of new episodes of other series meant that I had some spare time to fit it in of late.

I have quite enjoyed it. I don't think it's on the same level as HIMYM, but is still mostly enjoyable nonetheless, probably because of the whole relatable-geek thing.

Of geek news of late is Apple's announcement of the iPad. I have no idea what they were thinking both with the announced device as well as the name. The marketers must have missed MadTV's skit a few years back. I don't get who they aim to target with what essentially is an oversized iPod Touch.

I don't really see a market for such a device that doesn't allow multitasking, has no native USB or flash card connectivity, nor the rather basic ability to display flash in a web browser. The comparatively short battery life also means it pales as an e-book reader when compared to other offerings such as the Kindle. I can imagine all the netbook manufactures breathing a collective sigh of relief. An internet-enabled device like this that can't even play YouTube videos does seem quite useless for the mass market. I really can't imagine many knowledgeable people recommending this device, and I fail to see any benefit at all over other products other than a very high quality screen.

Apple's proved me wrong before, but I struggle to see how they'll do it with this product.