Apple's new iPads and me

Had a bit of a busy day thanks to a certain fruity company's announcement of updated versions of its tablets. The new iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina Display (say it 10 times fast!) will doubtless get the faithful all wound up in a lather because, let's face it, nothing matters more to some folks than the latest geeky gear.

From my analyst's perch here in London, I covered the day's events as best I could. I wrote an article for Yahoo! Canada Finance on the shifting winds of the tablet market - and why Apple's play-it-safe strategy of mildly updating its devices with each passing generation may not be in its long-term best interest. Here it is:

iPad Air's Android problem

Earlier in the morning, I spoke live with CTV News Channel's Jacqueline Milczarek (video here) from the CTV London studios near my house.

Little bit of trivia: this interview was mercifully fly-free. Last week during a live hit, we were about to wrap things up when I spotted a fly heading straight for me from a gap in between the studio lights. As I chatted away, I could feel him (her?) buzzing my head, and even caught a view of the little bugger in the monitor: whatever it was, it was clearly visible on TV, and it wouldn't leave me alone for the rest of the discussion. Maybe he liked my shampoo.

I also wrote a piece on LED lighting for TheLoop.ca's consumer blog. Here's the link:

What you need to know before buying LED bulbs

The rest of the thankfully flyless day included interviews with a bunch of other folks, too:

• NewsTalk 1010 Toronto - busy day with Bell Media's flagship station. Spoke live with John Moore first thing in the morning, then chatted with Dave Bradley after the news came down. Then caught up with Justine Lewkowicz. I ended the day with one last chat with John Downs and Ryan Doyle on Friendly Fire. As far as I can tell, they're not sick of me yet.
• CJAD 800 Montreal - updated Barry Morgan on Facebook's big week of announcements, and what to expect from Apple.
• NewsTalk 610 CKTB Niagara - chatted with Larry Fedoruk during the afternoon drive.
• News Talk 770 Calgary - talked about Facebook's privacy challenges with Angela Kokott as part of our weekly Tech Tuesday segment.
• CBC Kitchener-Waterloo - spoke with Matt Kang for a package he's preparing on BlackBerry's launch of BBM for iOS and Android.
• CBC Radio - did a quick roundup of hits with shows in Thunder Bay (Cathy Alex/Voyage North), Winnipeg (Ismaila Alfa/Up to Speed), Edmonton (Portia Clark/Radio Active), Calgary (Doug Dirks/Homestretch), and Ottawa (Alan Neal/All in a Day).

Tomorrow's shaping up to be another major day, with interviews already set up with CBC Kitchener (7:10/BBM for iOS/Android), CBC Ontario Morning (7:50/iPads and other tablets. Podcast audio here), News Talk 770 Calgary (8:15/Bruce Kenyon/isoHunt and BitTorrents) and CJOB Winnipeg (8:55/Hal Anderson/Bell tracks, BBM, and Apple). I'm guessing a lot of people really like to talk about - and hear about - tech. Fine by me!

But wait, there's more...

Wednesday did indeed turn out to be a busy day. The quad of interviews went exceptionally well (tip: a parked car in a garage makes a nicely soundproofed studio.) And the fun continued from there:

Published an article on the growing list of suitors lining up to take a run at BlackBerry. I don't often "write funny", and I am incredibly lucky to have editors at Yahoo! Canada who give me more than enough room to do just that. I hope you enjoy reading the piece as much as I enjoyed writing it:
BlackBerry, BlackBerry, which suitor will you choose?
Other coverage from the day included:

• CJAD 800 Montreal - Shuyee Lee - report on Bell's plans to capture data from its customers
• CTV London - Sean Irvine - report on a website, TheDirty.com, that lets anyone say anything vengeful or spiteful about anyone else. Can we say libel? I knew we could. Video here.
• NewsTalk 1010 Toronto - Scott Reid filling in for John Tory. Talked about Apple's iPads and the future of the company.
• CJBK London - Mike Stubbs - talked about everything tech under the sun as part of our weekly segment

I ended the day with a clip on the CTV National News. John Vennavally-Rao reported on the Bell/tracking issue, and I weighed in. Video here - hang in after Obama and Merkel. Or just click here for the direct video.

Funny thing, though. For all the media-driven chaos of the previous two days, the highlights had nothing to do with anything I do at the keyboard. Our son got a job after months of trying - and we couldn't be more proud of him. And our daughter performed beautifully at her choir's first music night of the year. We couldn't be more proud of her, either.

Sometimes, you need snippets of real life to remind you what really matters.