Wired - Apple's iPad: One Small Step for Tablets, One Giant Leap for Personal Computers

[FdmNews 0]

 

On the eve of the launch of Apple's iPad, I am thinking of Ed Roberts. He never became a household name, but as the man behind the Altair computer — a kit for lunatic tech hobbyists released in 1975 — he was responsible for launching the microcomputer era.

 

When nearly everyone in technology thought that computers would forever be restricted to big institutions, Roberts envisioned the machines as tools of empowerment. "If I were to give you an army of 10,000 people, could you build a pyramid?" he said. "A computer gives the average person, a high school freshman, the power to do things in a week that all the mathematicians who ever lived until 30 years ago couldn't do...........

 

 

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[Timotheus 416]

Apple's new iPad dissected:

 

 

Edited April 4, 2010 by Timotheus

[Scrappy McSlap 6]

I'll wait for the next version... hopefully we'll have multitasking and a camera by then. Plus there should be a hell of a lot of apps for this thing too...

[gogoblender 3,077]

wow...my cousin just got one, and at dinner a few nights ago, we all got to check out it's "neatness" Yeah it's neat...but for more than five bills, for me, it's kind of pricey... though if my parents got me one I wouldn't complain

 

Still though... you'd get it cuz it's portable...and right now it would be competing with two things... cell and lap top. It's bigger than a cell, and nowhere near as powerful (yet) as a lap top.

 

Let's see who loves me this Christmas

 

 

gogo

[wolfie2kX 528]

wow...my cousin just got one, and at dinner a few nights ago, we all got to check out it's "neatness" Yeah it's neat...but for more than five bills, for me, it's kind of pricey... though if my parents got me one I wouldn't complain

 

Still though... you'd get it cuz it's portable...and right now it would be competing with two things... cell and lap top. It's bigger than a cell, and nowhere near as powerful (yet) as a lap top.

 

Let's see who loves me this Christmas

 

 

gogo

 

I'm not seeing this as competing with either. First off, it's not a competitor to the cell phone - why? Because it has NO phone built in. Yes, you can put in Skype apps, and such, but it's still not a cell phone. Besides, you'd look pretty darn retarded holding one up to your ear.

 

Secondly, it's not really in competition with real laptops. Why? Because, as you pointed out - it's not as powerful as the laptop. The software (iWork, in particular) isn't able to handle features that are available in the laptop/desktop version. Imagine the early adopter guy's surprise when he plugged in his brand spankin' new iPad and synced over a really important presentation that he spent weeks working on to the iPad. It was full of all manner of specialized stuff - like Speaker notes. Imagine his shock and horror when he got on the plane and opened up said document in iWorks for the iPad and he couldn't find them anywhere. It turns out that iWork for the iPad doesn't do speaker notes. It truncates them out of the document when it's synced.

 

Worse yet, since the document was changed, it now feels the need to sync the document back to the original Mac. Whoops. Now the original, unmodified version of the document is now history, replaced by the truncated one.

 

If anything, this is a giant leap all right - a giant leap BACKWARDS. The problem with this iWork sync thing - it's not very well documented up front and center. Nor do you get a warning that the document you're trying to sync has features NOT supported on the iPad. The only notation of this issue is found in the fine print of the support pages. A bit too late after you've lost hours of work...

 

The iPad version of whatever the word processor in iWork is called, is just as bad. It lops off things like tables of contents, footnotes, citations, etc.. Not entirely sure about the spreadsheet, but I wouldn't be a bit surprised if it didn't lose something in the translation as well.

 

So let's call it what it is - a device that's not really like anything before it except for perhaps, an e-book reader on steroids with internet access, music and video capabilities thrown in.

 

In that regards, it may just be quite an excellent device. But as a tool to get work done - fuggeddaboudit... Magical? Maybe if you doused it in T-energy... Revolutionary? Did Fidel Castro endorse this thing?

Edited October 31, 2010 by wolfie2kX

[gogoblender 3,077]

Its competing for our time...which is finite.

 

Dissect what you do in your day, and when you personally use electronic devices.

 

When would the Ipad come forth to take any place of any activity you are currently doing with a device?

 

Or... do you think you will start carting around this extra device just to be able to use it? I gotta say.. it was kinda funny seeing my cousin whipping out this huge thing just to get a phone number LOL...

 

While... I could just get the phone out and say a name into...

 

For that moment of my time.. the phone wins out for for sheer convenience and price.

 

And if I spend time outside working on the net... there is a finite amount of time there that different devices would be competing for... Ipad just doesn't the muscle yet to make me want to leave a lap top at home.

 

It's got a pretty screen though

 

 

gogo

[wolfie2kX 528]

Its competing for our time...which is finite.

 

Dissect what you do in your day, and when you personally use electronic devices.

 

When would the Ipad come forth to take any place of any activity you are currently doing with a device?

 

Or... do you think you will start carting around this extra device just to be able to use it? I gotta say.. it was kinda funny seeing my cousin whipping out this huge thing just to get a phone number LOL...

 

While... I could just get the phone out and say a name into...

 

For that moment of my time.. the phone wins out for for sheer convenience and price.

 

And if I spend time outside working on the net... there is a finite amount of time there that different devices would be competing for... Ipad just doesn't the muscle yet to make me want to leave a lap top at home.

 

It's got a pretty screen though

 

 

gogo

 

And that's the thing that makes people go gaga over it - the shiny new screen. That's about all it has going for it.

 

And I'm betting that the phone will also DIAL the number of the contact automatically for you as well. Mine does. Of course, I have to be very clear and concise when I speak into the phone or it will either not find any matches, or it will ask me to repeat what I just said or dial something entirely different. I would hope that the various phone makers would have improved on the tech - my phone is on the verge of turning 5 years old in November.

 

Also, don't forget that if you get a 3G model, you have a rather limited and expensive data plan to contend with. Working on the Net without a good Wi-fi connection can be quite detrimental to your wallet. Unfortunately, Wifi isn't always available everywhere you go.

[FdmNews 0]

iPad 3G

 

 

The laptop is at its end. You may have already purchased your last one. We’ve touched the future, and it feels a lot like the iPad. The gesture-based interface is instantly understandable and better than anything else we’ve tried—ever. It’s addictive, and we find ourselves attempting to swipe and tap and stroke the displays on our desktops and are disappointed when they ignore our caresses. But the deep hotness here is the Internet everywhere—3G flowing through a rich, eyeball-friendly screen on a device lighter than, well, some issues of this very magazine. After just a few months, we already feel genuine affection. We loved it when we checked into our flight from the taxicab, navigating drop-downs that would have been too tricky on a phone. When we used it to sidestep the hotel’s exorbitant Wi-Fi fees. When we carried it to our brother’s hospital bedside, where the Netflix app helped him forget his pain. We love it every time we bring up a map at the trailhead, every time we find a new recipe on Epicurious, every time we watch a game on MLB at 35,000 feet. Sure, it could be improved: Give it a camera, a supersharp Retina display, and more data-plan options, please. But don’t copy everything iPhone; we’re fine keeping the antenna on the inside. And seriously: Liberate us from AT&T. But for now, this is it. If you don’t have one yet, you will soon enough.....

 

 

 

 

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[gogoblender 3,077]

Exactly regarding the WI FI Petey...it's NOT everywhere it's supposed to be and a lot of the main isp providers are kinda trying to lock up main montreal areas offering free wifi ONLY if you have paid for their monthly services at home

 

 

gogo

[wolfie2kX 528]

Exactly regarding the WI FI Petey...it's NOT everywhere it's supposed to be and a lot of the main isp providers are kinda trying to lock up main montreal areas offering free wifi ONLY if you have paid for their monthly services at home

 

 

gogo

 

Yeah... We've got that down here in the States as well. AT&T gives you free wi-fi at StarBucks IF you've got one of the higher end DSL plans. Not with the basic DSL package.

 

Some vendors still offer "free" wifi - provided you buy something from them.

[wolfie2kX 528]

iPad 3G

 

The laptop is at its end. You may have already purchased your last one. We’ve touched the future, and it feels a lot like the iPad. The gesture-based interface is instantly understandable and better than anything else we’ve tried—ever. It’s addictive, and we find ourselves attempting to swipe and tap and stroke the displays on our desktops and are disappointed when they ignore our caresses. But the deep hotness here is the Internet everywhere—3G flowing through a rich, eyeball-friendly screen on a device lighter than, well, some issues of this very magazine. After just a few months, we already feel genuine affection. We loved it when we checked into our flight from the taxicab, navigating drop-downs that would have been too tricky on a phone. When we used it to sidestep the hotel’s exorbitant Wi-Fi fees. When we carried it to our brother’s hospital bedside, where the Netflix app helped him forget his pain. We love it every time we bring up a map at the trailhead, every time we find a new recipe on Epicurious, every time we watch a game on MLB at 35,000 feet. Sure, it could be improved: Give it a camera, a supersharp Retina display, and more data-plan options, please. But don’t copy everything iPhone; we’re fine keeping the antenna on the inside. And seriously: Liberate us from AT&T. But for now, this is it. If you don’t have one yet, you will soon enough.....

 

Maybe... If blizzards rampage through Hades and Satan himself starts wearing long undies. I refuse to buy ANYTHING Apple. I don't need Steve "holier than thou" Jobs telling me what I can and can't do. Thanks anyhow.