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iBook Converts to iTablet
Samuel Cotterall writes to tell us The Register is reporting that, not content to wait for Apple's mythical tablet PC to ship, ThePlaceforitAll.com is selling converted iBooks on eBay to fill the void. From the article: "ThePlaceforitAll.com is the first to admit the hardware will not be supported by Apple, thanks to the warranty-warping modification work, but the software should still be covered. More worrying is the site's statement that it "will not fix any broken iTablets". It will also ship to US-located buyers only."
The touchpad is not compatible with Apple's Inkwell and it's a G4-based laptop. All that for a mere $1500? Save up another $500 and buy the new Macbook.
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
the iTablet = a hard pill to swallow
-Sj53
So, should we start an office pool on how long it takes before Apple starts to sue them?
BeauHD. Worst editor since kdawson.
I thought this was kind of cool until I read that Inkwell is not supported. What's up with that? It pretty much makes the tablet useless.
Avoid Missing Ball for High Score
Any real consumer reviews of these from happy/unhappy customers?
Dark Reflection
Ok, it doesn't sound like they even have a prototype and it voids Apple's warrantee. This does not give me any confidence in their ability to do this work. I wouldn't want them fucking with my iBook.
I'll wait for Apple, thank you very much.
What the market demands, the market gets, regardless of whether the original manufacturer listens or not. If this sells well, maybe Apple will hasten to complete their own tablet PC.
20 mil and I will! Learn Esperanto with 20M others.
ThePlaceforitAll.com: We break it! You buy it!
Running Windows^H^H^H^H^H^H^H OSX and Linux in the home. (I don't have time for Solitaire any more.)
Some remarks:
Don't touch it
Auction on ebay
iTab homepage (already slashdotted)
Chriss
--
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this has been done a long time ago
The war with islam is a war on the beast
The war on terror is a war for peace
the lack of inkwell compatability kind of defeats the whole purpose of getting a tablet mac in the first place... use another vendor for handwriting recognition, sure, but not as slick as inkwell for sure. plus extra cost.
but the bigger complaint would be that they will not repair any tablet, after they void the warranty for you. at the very least they should offer a limited warranty and repair policy. without any, they pool of prospective buyers is gonna narrow dramatically.
and you'd think after spending all that time figuring out how to make this work(which they haven't actually done it yet, not until you buy one, then they'll figure it out) they would have designed a better stylus holder. it looks more like an after thought.
so in the end, what you really end up paying for is someone elses laptop case mod experiment.
that you had to bid on thru ebay.
pass.
three can keep a secret, if two are dead - benjamin franklin
The unit on offer contains a 1.33GHz PowerPC G4 CPU, 512MB of memory, 40GB of hard drive space and Mac OS X 10.4. It has 802.11g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0. The machine is signed by the modder, and individually numbered.
That is a pretty impressive configuration for a tablet PC. And at that price they better give a personal autograph too. Collectors items commands its own value in the market.
Linux Help
for all things on Linux
What their saying is it wont work if you try to change the system basically. No drivers, no upgrades. I'd buy one if I were a millionare though.
Why would you trust a testimonial when choosing hosting?
If you gave me $1500, I could get you an iBook, rip the screen off, and patch it back on woth duct tape ;-) Especially since I never would have to touch it again, let alone meet you...
I should start my own ebay store, selling hardware I tinkered with(read: FUBAR'ed)
This is my sig. There are many like it but this one is mine. My sig is my best friend. It is my life.
The lack of Inkwell support is an issue, but I more importantly question the screen. As far as I know, there's no way to switch between Portrait and Landscape mode. TFA certainly doesn't mention this capablity, and after playing around with my PowerBook for a few minutes, OSX doesn't seem to naitively support that kind of orientation change. That's a big issue as it removes one of the cornerstones of Tablet fuctionality.
I love the tablet PC, and would def check out an Apple one if they released it. However, this looks like a scam for a useless product (no handwriting recognition?).
Those talking about the lack of MS innovation should point the way to a linux or apple tablet PC. Nokia has a linux large PDA device that doesn't really count, and some company is re-releasing IBMs with a custom distro, but I have yet to see a distro available with full tablet functionality (including handwriting rec at least as good as MS's, if not hopefully better).
I was under the impression that there was enough propriatery work in both Apple's software and hardware that they'd had full control over retail dealing of Apple products. They can even tell dealers at which price to sell things. Could Apple sue this outfit?
..... where it had everything except ROM chips (which the user had to supply from a desktop Mac) so that they didn't get sued out of existance by Apple(http://www.lowendmac.com/clones/outbound.htm l for more). Oddly enough, what put them out of business was the release of the first Mac Portable.
This time around they are taking iBooks and (allegedly) converting them into tablets. That is sure to get the attention of the horde of Apple lawyers who will surely sue them out of existance.
This is my opinion. To make sure you don't steal it, it's covered by the DMCA.
Seriously, why was this posted? This is absolute garbage. The people have never built ONE of these. They don't have a single picture of any iTablet they have built. All they have is a poor photoshop mockup. You'd have to be a really big idiot to send them money. I'd love to see what happens if someone sent them money! To see the pile of shit (if anything at all) you would get in return.
I see that The Reg is suffering from the /. Editor Effect. "Tablet Mac draws bidders on eBay". Bidders? Unless zero has taken on a new value that I don't know about, I'd disagree.
/. or The Reg. Maybe it's not a scam, but it's certainly not news.
Oh, and, for what it's worth, the auction does say that the computer will ship outside of the US. Although I honestly can't imagine who would care to risk their money on something that doesn't even exist.
I've got to say that I'm a little confused about the shipping time, too. The auction text says that it ships after it's modified - oh, and allow some time for the vendor to order one after you pay up. And for the touchscreen to arrive. But at the bottom of the auction, it ships a day after payment clears.
I'm really at a loss for a reason why this is on either
-h-
I bookmarked this auction. Not because I'd be stupid enough to buy one, but because I want to see how many chumps actually bid on this thing.
I want a new quote. One that won't spill. One that don't cost too much. Or come in a pill.
Anyone notice the title of TFA is: "Tablet Mac draws bidders on eBay" but when you go to the ebay link in the article you see "History: 0 bids"
Seems like the title of TFA should be "Tablet Mac draws wide skepticism from Slashdot"
Sometimes I feel like +1 Reasonable should exist.
Trolltouch already makes a touch screen enabled iBook...
Super-low-profile, really cool...
We apologise for the fault in this post. Those responsible have been sacked. -- Signed RICHARD M. NIXON
is pretty damning yeah.
/. should invite the buyer for an interview that would be fun).
i wonder if anyone will actually buy this (if so
note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
if the keyboard is covered and you can never get to it again, then how do you get to RAM/Airport Extreme?
in iBooks, the RAM is located under the keyboard and you get to it by taking off the keyboard.
iBooks are not meant to be run with the lid closed, or at least that's what Apple says. So wouldn't this new permanently closed touchscreen lid cause the machine to overheat?
This one is a bit older, but it's a lot more functional.
http://www.macmod.com/content/view/166/2/
I wouldn't mind one of these made using more recent components...
[All Your Fish Are Belong To Us]
blah, no warranty, and overtly expensive. I'll just wait for an official apple tablet machine. I'm praying that they'll contract Wacom for the Cintiq technology.
If not for bastardizing Apple's work (which is legal to an extent), for calling it an iTablet (or iAnything), and duplicating the design of their product descriptions to a T on their site.
In undeveloped countries, the consumer controls the market. In capitalist America, the market controls you.
I would love to have an Apple Mac Tablet. But this isn't even close to what I'm thinking.
The above is not worth reading.
Yeah, what a business model. Going to market just a days before or at the day of keynote, where the "rumours" were about a tablet from mac itself.
I think you will find a disclaimer that you are buying a picture somwhere.
Parent comment (and blog) inspires confidence in this scheme. Yes.
"Every iTab ships with a built-in 56K V.92(2) modem for dial-up connections and 10/100BASE-T Ethernet to enable you to connect to a DSL, cable modem or a high-speed network. The Setup Assistant takes you through the steps of connecting to the Internet easily, whisking you online and surfing the Web in minutes." But no wireless, just seems strange (and less useful) to me in this day and age....
Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome. - Isaac Asimov
Nice catch! I actually bothered to look at his form and missed that...
The apple version is intel.. ( yuk ) So there is your reason to buy one of these things.
Yes i expect to be modded down, yet again, for expressing my dislike for this change from PPC to ix86. But hey, its how i feel. And im NOT alone.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Were you holding down the comma key? Or the Option Key?
Ok, this thing doesn't really exist so how can they say *ANYTHING* factual about it?!?! I'd take this with a very large dose of salt. Looks like scam, sounds like a scam, ummmm, I'd say it's a SCAM! Given the complexity (or lack there of) of their other projects listed at theplaceforitall.com, I seriously doubt this is nothing more than a hoax; or criminal for that matter. I'm shocked that Google hasn't sued them yet, let alone Apple!
Q: I want to make an urgent purchase of your apple laptop for my nephew's Mac project. I'm unable to bid due to the urgency and my short access to internet.Let me know its current condition and your last desired price as I hope to send money order via MoneyGram since I do not have access to paypal.I'll be offering a sum of 2450 usd including shipping via express post to Ibadan, Nigeria and let me know if this is ok by you. Kindly provide me your full address details and the name that will be on the payment form of your money order. I'm awaiting your response as speedy as possible Thanks and God bless! Vivian Jan-11-06
A: Let me check with the US State Department.
This article isn't useless. Seeing the lengths someone will go to to get less than a quarter of the functionality that I take for granted in the tablet-PC that I'm writing this on... it gives me warm fuzzies.
Mmmmm, warm fuzzies.
1. The actual auction says all they have is a drawing of one, the first one won't be built until it's ordered, he hasn't built one yet, and it's your keister if it breaks. I'll pass.
2. Isn't there a way to build a stylus that can be used on a trackpad? Granted it's not a great space to draw in, but I'd grab a $29 stylus for occasional Photoshop etc. use rather than a $100 drawing pad that has to be lugged... IANAEE so this to me is like Asimov's calculator - but I know I'd line my pockets with them if I were running a laptop-based lab / school / etc...
"Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
Since 1998.
The Q&A from ThePlaceforitAll.com's e-Bay auction:
... a product that doesn't exist yet. You don't know how to build such a product? That's okay, charge up front! Have the Register and Slashdot report on your e-Bay auction (this is the easy part: they'll report anything) to an audience of millions. Oh, and here's the piece-de-resistance: put a little caption (see above?) on your auction page that disassociates yourself with scammers. Alright, I think we're getting somewhere now, Vivian...!
Q: I want to make an urgent purchase of your apple laptop for my nephew's Mac project. I'm unable to bid due to the urgency and my short access to internet.Let me know its current condition and your last desired price as I hope to send money order via MoneyGram since I do not have access to paypal.I'll be offering a sum of 2450 usd including shipping via express post to Ibadan, Nigeria and let me know if this is ok by you. Kindly provide me your full address details and the name that will be on the payment form of your money order. I'm awaiting your response as speedy as possible Thanks and God bless! Vivian
Jan-11-06
A: Let me check with the US State Department.
Haha, Nigerian bank scams are so 5 years ago! Listen, "Vivian", if you want to make it in this business, you gotta get with the times. Be creative! Think big! I'll try help you out here. Hmmm, I'm thinking of something along the lines of
Interesting that there's only one straight-on frontal view of the iTab. There's no indication of how it opens, or whether it can be switched back and forth between a labtop.
Well for starters, nearly all the images on their auction were taken directly from Apple's site. On top of that, their whole page layout is basically a 1:1 replica of Apple's page, which could easily be construed by Apple as misleading marketing practices.
"This time around they are taking iBooks and (allegedly) converting them into tablets. That is sure to get the attention of the horde of Apple lawyers who will surely sue them out of existance."
Based on what? This appears to be an Apple product purchased through legit channels, meaning all relevant patent and copyright royalities going to Apple, with post-purchase modifications. There is no confusion that this is a post-purchase modification, not sold by Apple, so even trademark protections don't apply either.
If Apple's lawyers were stupid enough to go after this outfit and win, they'd set the dangerous precedent that any product purchased retail and resold with modification was illegal, regardless of whether they attacked this from the viewpoint of patents, trademark, or trademark dress (I omit copyright because I know right of first sale is explicit in the letter of the law; I believe this is also true with patents except that is by case law, not verbatim in the relevant sections of patent law).
iow, any future Apple computer or iPod which was sold with a skin or case modification or Sonnet processor upgrade would be or would have been illegal by the standard you imagined.
You can call durring bussinness hours 9am-5pm easter time
So I guess they're only open for bussinness one day a year, and that's on a Sunday.
Easter time is 50 days, you insensitive clod.
Here, look it up, and search for "easter time":
http://www.nativity.org/Triduum.html
It's not a pill, it's a suppository. This thing goes up your, umm, ya know.
Ohh, and lube is not included.
"Things are more moderner than before- bigger, and yet smaller- it's computers-- San Dimas High School football RULES!"
To me, design does matter.
Then again, im an EE.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
"I know what you're thinking, 'cause right now I'm thinking the same thing. Actually, I've been thinking it ever since I got here: Why oh why didn't I take the BLUE iTablet..."
The Rise and Fall of Online Community
It really is. Its just not in-your-face traditional, like a painting would be. But dont doubt for even a millisecond that its not an art form.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
the link gives ebays typical item not found error.
note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register