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My iPad has just arrived and as I unpack it I thought I’d jot down a few notes of my first impressions.

• It’s smaller than I expected. Think US Legal size rather than A4.
  

  Web browser on iPad

• It’s exquisitely engineered and exudes quality. The brushed aluminium back, crisp machined edges, oleophobic glass screen; it’s simply perfect.
• It comes fully charged and ready to play. Much better than “plug in and charge for the first 12 hours”.
• I’m surprised it doesn’t come with a set of ear buds.
• It requires iTunes v.9 to be downloaded to your PC and synced before you can power it on. You couldn’t buy it, walk to a coffee shop and use it.
• It’s a nice weight. Light enough to carry easily, heavy enough to feel solid.

Powering on

• It’s fast. The screen rotates quickly and is silky smooth. Google maps pinch and zoom is breathtaking.
• The larger screen makes even iPhone Apps more immersive. The scaling is quite good too.
• It has no GPS or cellular radio, yet its location awareness pinpointed my location spot on.
• The home screen works in landscape mode, unlike the iPhone.
• There are very few Apps installed as standard - less than the iPhone.
• Browsing the web is unbelievably good, like no browser I’ve used before.
• Its the perfect device for watching YouTube, although HD  isn’t supported. The mobile quality video shows up on the larger screen.
• Surprised there aren’t stereo speakers given its size. Even the Nokia N95 managed to squeeze them in.
• There’s a handy physical switch to prevent screen autorotation if you wish.

The downsides

• iTunes. Something has gotta be done about iTunes. It’s like it was developed by a different company. I’ll save my rants for another day.
• The dock connector is on the wrong edge in my opinion. This is a predominantly landscape device, and the dock should allow it to sit this way.
• It takes a while to figure out how best to hold it.

iPad unboxed

After 24 hours

• It starts to feel a little bit heavier after using it for a while. I’d rather have weight and a metal case than a lighter plastic case though.
• There’s an astonishing number of iPad Apps already out there. Add to that the huge iPhone library and there’s a massive software library for it.
• A very few companies are charging a premium for an iPad App. Why? It takes no longer to develop. Are you listening Firemint? (Flight Control for iPhone = 59p. Flight Control HD for iPad = £2.99. Are you kidding me?)
• The overwhelming majority of iPhone Apps that offer a special iPad version offer it for free.
• There are a surprising number of websites that have already moved to HTML5, and so embedded video works. The BBC however still shows “you need to install Flash to view this content”.
• The oleophobic screen doesn’t seem quite as repellent as the iPhone 3GS, but it may be that you hold it more.
• The on-screen keyboard is surprisingly good to use once you’ve found a position that works. One handed typing is better than two thumbs for me. I wouldn’t want to write an essay on it, but that’s not what it’s for.
• The battery life is outstanding.
• The big battery takes a long time to charge with even a powerful iPhone adapter (which has double the power of USB charging). You really need to use the 10W iPad adapter.
• Push notifications continue to come through even on standby. My slight concern about no “push” without the 3G model has been allayed.
• Apps often have a different interface depending on the orientation to show more or less content, most notably YouTube. This works well.
• It’s very slightly less stable than iPhone but much more than a windows PC. I’ve had Safari crash once, and a couple of Apps. None have required a reboot.
• Instant-on is the way it should be. I powered on my laptop when I got home and went to make a coffee while it booted up.

Where did they put the computer?

I tried using it for taking notes in meetings; it’s a little less obtrusive than a laptop but can be more challenging to find a comfortable position. It came into its own when I sat in Starbucks to read the news, watch some video reports while sipping a coffee. I’ve always felt a bit of an idiot opening a laptop in a coffee shop, but this is more like reading a book. It feels very natural, enjoyable, and you really feel like you’re holding something special. People who try it out seem indifferent until they hold it for themselves. If I knew what evoked this tactile desire, I might be as successful as Jonathan Ive.

So is it an iPad or an iFad ? I wonder what people will use it for. Early signs for me are more encouraging than I thought. I think it might fill a gap in the same way that no one saw a need for a handheld mobile web browsing device 5 years ago, but now find very useful. It’s nicer to use than an iphone - in fact going back to the iphone for browsing the web at home feels like using a toy. The iPhone’s screen is necessarily small, but the iPads larger screen is much more comfortable to view. It’ll be interesting to see how much I use it in a month’s time. And maybe the battery will be flat by then.

My office buddy (Paul) and I recently changed the brake fluid in his car. While trying to remove one of the wheels we discovered that the locking wheel nut was extremely tight and we severely damaged it in the process of trying to remove it.

Normally, the nut looks like this:

The toothed key nut with a unique pattern of ribs and notches slides inside the keyway of the locking bolt on the wheel.

As the bolt was so tight, we used an extension bar with the the socket set. Unfortunately, as you can only apply force in one direction, this pushed the key downwards rather than just twisting the bolt. This caused the sides of the locking bolt to deform and get wider.

The result was a bolt firmly wedged in the wheel which now looked more like the dotted line in the diagram below.

Deformed Lock Bolt

We purchased a locking wheel nut removal tool from Halfords which is like a socket set but with a hardened reverse-screw thread instead of a hexagonal key. The principle is that as you try to undo the bolt, the socket screws tighter around the outside of the locking bolt and so gripping it. But as the outside of the locking bolt had deformed so much and was now flanged, we were unable to get the removal socket around the outside of the lock bolt despite lots of hammering, levering and deforming.

Re-forming Lock Bolt

Finally, we stumbled upon a method to restore the bolt to its former shape. We hammered an oversized impact socket around the bolt, then used an air impact wrench to spin the socket around the flanged edge. Gradually this smoothed the flange forcing the bolt back to its original shape.

This got us back to where we started - a locking bolt that was incredibly tight, and which we couldn’t use a long extension to undo. How could we get enough torque to undo the bolt without damaging it?

We tried lots of WD40 and an air impact wrench, which provides the rotational torque without any of the lateral force. But even on full pressure (110 psi) it was unable to crack the bolt’s grip on the wheel.

Finally, we came up with an idea to give us bags of torque with little down force. A 4-way wheel wrench seemed good, but was far too unstable when we applied even a bit of force. However, by stabilizing it with an axle stand, it stayed firmly wedged in the socket, and we removed any lever effect which damaged the bolt last time. Now we could stand, jump, and pull on the 4-way wrench without it damaging the bolt.

4-way wheel wrench with axle jig

The bolt cracked within seconds. It’s now been replaced by a regular bolt - much easier to remove!