Several welcome enhancements. (Via Stephen Hackett.)

Great piece by Kyle Baxter:

[T]he full-size iPad is something that you bring with you and set up to use, whether that’s on a desk or on your lap, the iPad Mini is a device you can use while sitting or standing, because you can comfortably hold it in your hands. […]

The full-sized iPad is like an easier to use (and, in many ways, much more useful) notebook computer because of its size and weight: it’s something you sit down and use. The iPad Mini, though, is almost as functional as the full-sized one, but can be used in more contexts.

I agree. And what’s neat is that the differences Kyle draws between the iPad mini and the full-sized iPad in order to make a case for using the former are exactly the same reason that I am sticking with the latter.

David Sparks is in the same boat as me:

For now at least, I think one of the big dividing lines between the iPad mini and the larger size iPad is content consumption versus creation.

If we were to compare the iPads to Apple’s laptop lineup, you could say that the iPad mini is the MacBook Air and the full-sized iPad is the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display. One excels in portability, is great for nearly all tasks most users will do, and is the one that you recommend to anyone who doesn’t know what laptop to buy. The other is more powerful and has a far better screen and thus makes it obviously superior for certain people.

Ironically, I own a MacBook Air in real life.

Chris Bowler:

It’s easy to succumb to the thinking that getting the best is too expensive. It is expensive in the moment, but not in the long term.

My thanks to Dozeo for sponsoring the RSS feed this week.

* * *

dozeo is a young and innovative team of developers and online media experts from Stuttgart, Germany. Together we are excited about redefining videoconferencing and providing a hassle-free solution for people to meet online and communicate live and interactively with each other.

dozeo represents a new kind of social video conferencing. It combines powerful features into an intuitive and stylish design that can easily withstand a comparison with the established online conferencing tools.

Upcoming integrations of dozeo into existing social media platforms will increase the fun factor and improve the effective use of online collaboration tools. With the existing integration for Github we have already made a start: developers get the chance to avoid lengthy plain text discussions and join a video conference directly from GitHub.

Check it out for yourself and sign up for a free dozeo account.

Happy meetings!

Try hassle-free video conferencing with Dozeo today.

Sponsorship by The Syndicate.

This Kickstarter campaign looks awesome; definitely count me in. Because if Shaun Inman is selling it, I’m buying it.

One of these gorgeous Autumn shots from John Carey just became my new iPhone Home screen background.

Arq 3 (the killer Mac utility app that backs up your files and folders to Amazon S3) shipped about a week ago, and it now supports Amazon Glacier.

For my off-site backups I use both Arq and BackBlaze. I don’t have enough data to be worth it for me to use Amazon Glacier (my monthly S3 bill for Arq backups is less than $8). But for those who do have a whole lot of data which you don’t expect to ever need to recover except in the worst case scenarios, then using Amazon Glacier may be just right for you — it’s cheap to upload and cheap to store, but can get expensive when you need to recover that data.

LaunchBar got a nice and welcomed update just before the weekend, adding quite a bit of support for Mountain Lion. I wish the iMessage integration were a bit more magical and akin to the way the Contacts app works when sending an iMessage from within there. Instead acting on a phone number to send an iMessage launches the Messages app.

P.S. Ben and I did a LaunchBar tips and tricks episode on the The B&B Podcast a few shows back.

Dustin Curtis:

If you’re an unreasonable person, trust me: the time it takes to find the best of something is completely worth it.

It’s not only “worth it” in the long run, it’s also fun. My wife often looks at me with a raised eyebrow when I’ve got (for example) a half-dozen loud and ugly keyboards sprawled out across my desk, in search of the one that sounds and feels the best. But for me, it’s not just about the end-goal of having the best product for the long haul — it’s also a fun journey of searching, discovering, learning, and playing.

The tips and tricks shows are becoming one of my favorites. This week Ben and I talk about Keyboard Maestro, giving an overview of how this app works and some of the basics for using it as well as some of the custom macros we use.

And thanks to Hoban Cards for sponsoring the show this week. Check them out for some top-notch, letterpress calling cards. It’s where I had mine made and I can vouch that the quality is exceptional.

Stephen Hackett’s review of the iPad mini:

The size makes the iPad mini feel much more like a digital notebook than the regular iPad ever could. I see myself carrying it with me far more often than I did with any previous iPad.

I think all of my Internet Nerd Friends who ordered an iPad mini have already given up their Retina display iPads for it.

My thanks to Igloo Software for sponsoring the RSS feed this week to promote Q.

* * *

Introducing Q, the latest update to Igloo’s cloud intranet platform.

Q brings a brand new calendar application to every Igloo customer. The new calendar is perfectly integrated with Igloo’s intranet platform, but also works with your favorite calendar applications. You can schedule events with support for time zone, recurrence, reminders and locations. You can even invite people inside or outside of your company, including RSVP status.

Because calendars are built right into Igloo’s platform, you get the same social tools on each event — like comments, attachments, ratings and audit trails — that you use with other Igloo applications, like blogs.

Learn more about the great new features Q adds to the Igloo platform or sign up for a free 30-day trial.

Sponsorship by The Syndicate.

Dan Frommer:

My take after spending a bunch of the weekend with the iPad mini: This is the real iPad.

David Pogue agrees:

You could argue that the iPad Mini is what the iPad always wanted to be.

I have no doubt the iPad mini will soon be the “default” iPad even though it’s not the original. Just like the iPod touch is now the “default” iPod instead of the original classic with the click wheel. Out with the old, in with the new.