When I got married, I inherited an iPad (1st gen).  While it's a nice little toy to read or surf the web on, it gets largely neglected and spends the majority of its time on my wife's nightstand.  Part of my lack of interest is it seems to fall in the gap between my 4.8" smartphone with the same resolution and my 13" laptop (with also roughly the same resolution).

Recently, I've been brainstorming ways to use the iPad more.  This post is about my failing search, and a plea for suggestions. I guess I'm at a loss as to why iPads (and other tablets) are selling like hotcakes, and why people are buying even the 1st gen iPads on eBay for close to $200 when I can't even think of good uses for mine.

A big part of my lack of interest is the technology just feels old. Sure it's plenty fast, but Apple stopped supporting the iPad 1 in 2011 (Just one year after it's release), and thus it feels left in the dust when you see all the software updates and apps  coming around for new iDevices. Many apps I try to download give me the error that I need a at least iOS 6 to download. This is Apple's blatant strategy to make you want to ditch your old tech and get their new tech. A wasteful marketing scam that infuriates me, and pushed me to switch to android after my iPhone 3Gs got put on Apples shelf of abandoned toys as well.   I would hope that my tech is versatile to have a lifespan of more than 3 years, but apparently Apple does not agree.

To breathe new life into my iPad, I tried jailbreaking it.  This process was super easy and when the trumpets of victory sounded I was ready for a new and exciting world for our iPad.  The music quickly faded and I  found myself staring at the iPad scratching my head. Great. Still same old iPad. I'm not quite sure what the jailbreak did for me, other than allowing me to download apps that aren't in the app store. A sarcastic "wahoo."

Anyhow, I'm open for suggestions: Surly this device can serve more use than it's getting, but for the life of me... I can't figure out why our how.