Slashdot Mirror
iPad Launches, FCC Teardown Leaked
Apple's much-awaited iPad officially launched today, and iFixit has gotten their hands on photos from the FCC teardown. They've done an analysis of the internals and provided directions on doing it yourself, if you're so inclined. Predictably, it's a hot topic in the media. Cory Doctorow wrote about why he won't be getting an iPad, complaining about the closed, hacker-unfriendly design and what he calls the "Wal-martization of the software channel." Daring Fireball's John Gruber disagrees, pointing out that enthusiasts — even kids exercising their curiosity — are still quite capable of playing around with the iPad through app creation, and with much more of a chance to compete with big companies than in the Apple ][ days. Similarly, others are referring to it as the "bedtime computer" — technology that has a reasonable shot at expanding into completely new areas of use, like bedtime reading for kids. Such a device was predicted in 1972 by Alan Kay, the PARC scientist credited with the epigram "The best way to predict the future is to invent it." His hypothetical DynaBook bears striking similarity to what Apple finally came up with. So, those of you who have picked up or received an iPad already: how do you like it?
People, snap out of it. Its just a tablet computer. They have been around for over 10 years and they have never been all that special. Apple has you in some sort of hypnosis that is causing you to go gaga over closed up commercial productions that you think you need to own.
However, the iPad is SO easy to use there's really nothing to learn. I have shown him how to use my iPhone to take pictures, browse pictures and read the news, and it's just so intuitive and easy.
And he DOES have 3g coverage. So he can get one device with no cables or router that does everything he needs and is easy to learn.
I think Slashdotters are for the most part woefully ignorant of how the rest of humanity actually uses computers, and would do well to understand these types of use cases. They will sell millions.
Welding the hood shut annoys hackers, but we're such a tiny part of the market that we don't matter. The trend over the past decades is clear: less and less consumer control over their devices, and more and more corporate control.
That might even be OK if you consider Apple a "benevolent dictator", as many people do.
I won't be buying one either due to the locked down closed nature. But this really doesn't matter *at all* to most people.
will be out in force in this thread.
There are faults with any device. It's not perfect, and it won't be for everyone. What irks me is the "I don't like/want it therefore it's crap" attitude; the inability to look beyond what *you* find wrong with it, and see that this might just be golden for someone else. My parents, for example [grin].
But what bugs me above all is the anti-apple crowd these days. Apparently if you express even the slightest appreciation for something well-conceived and well-designed, you're a "fanboi" who's taken in by "the shiny" (whatever *that* is!). Sure there are fanboys (and girls, presumably), but not everyone (not even vaguely close - not in the same universe, let alone ballpark) who likes Apple kit should be labelled such.
I swear the anti-Apple crowd are far and away worse than the real fanboys. Even in the worst-possible scenario, with everyone who likes Apple kit being a fan (ahem, including both genders, here) , at least the fans have something they like, appreciate, and enjoy using. The haters just hate. And that's pitiably sad.
Simon
Physicists get Hadrons!
Just another Goatse?
I have mod points and I am not afraid to use them.
As hackers, we should recognize that there is a right tool for the job. Ipad is just another tool. It does less than a laptop because it's meant to be a simpler tool than a laptop.
Eventually the market will decide if a tablet is a niche or mainstream product. But for me at least, I couldn't be happier.
In Soviet Russia, articles before post read *you*!
The national news media has gone utterly insane over this tablet. I know it's a flashy, "cool" product that will sell well, but it's just not worth the crazy amount of attention it's getting.
I think the best example of the lunacy was illustrated on the Colbert Report. The iPad was given a full front-cover picture (free advertisement), while Amazon paid for a full back-cover advertisement of their Kindle on the same magazine.
Everyone is clamoring over the iPad calling it a Kindle-Killer but the device is more than an eReader. It's not a replacement of the notebook either. I think it is Apples Netbook, an expensive one in comparison, but a netbook just the same. It has limited functionality but allows the user to access their documents via iWork (Apple is expanding iWork to the cloud, currently in beta) as well as create their own. It gives a user access to their email and then all those iPhone/iPod Touch apps. But what it really does is kind of free the user from the computer, from sitting at a desk and working at their computer, it is easier for her to go to coffee shop and just read the web. She'll then decide to go grocery shopping or do other things neatly tucking the iPad a way. If she has some ideas during the day she can take out her iPad and write up the ideas. As thin and mobile notebook computers are they still are chore to lug around everywhere. I'm not saying carrying a 1.5 pound is easier, but it sure beats having to grab the power cords, put everything in a bag. With the iPad, you just have to unplug it and go. I can't wait to get mine.
Save Pangaea!! Stop Continental Drift!!
The thing I find so interesting is just how much negativity is out there over the iPad. While I respect Doctorow's well-written analysis, most of it (not just on Slashdot) is far less intelligent and coherent. David Pogue's initial review (which was pretty thoughtful and balanced) got slammed with comments on everything from "I already have a laptop and now I'm supposed to buy an iPad?" to "how am I supposed to do anything without USB" to "how many kids could you help in Haiti instead of buying your stupid toy".
Honestly, you'd think people are being forced to buy an iPad. The only thing I can think of is that a certain segment of the population just rebels against anything that's mainstream.
The funniest comments (to me) are where Apple is compared to being the "new Microsoft". Yeah, because a company that got and maintained its riches only because of its half-baked operating system and word processor is so much like a company that goes out on a limb (over and over again) to invent a new category of consumer device. And then the commentators are somehow surprised when that pays off.
...Flame on!
I think the Kindle is going to have to make some serious changes. For 2x the price you get 5x the features with the iPad. Kindle's been out awhile and prices have already worked their way down as features and size have crept up. The iPad is just hitting the market and is already a better value for the money. When the early adopters are done paying their tax and prices on the iPad drop, Kindle has a very serious problem on their hands. I wonder what they intend to do?
Same thing has already happened with the palm pilot, but against a flurry of devices. (ipods and smartphones) Who in their right mind would buy a palm pilot today? Kindle is headed down the same road. I bought a PP 4 yrs ago not because I liked it, but because it was the only product anywhere near the price for what it did. People bought the Kindle for the same reason. And they're both going to find their way to the garage sale.
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
It's friggin' 10am on the west coast. Most people won't even be getting them for the next few hours, much less be able to report on them with any real detail. This was just a dumb, hype-induced time to post this article. If you actually gave a shit about getting interesting responses, why not ask how it is in a week?
Okay, time to get back to debugging on the simulator.
The iPad and the Android tablets are in the works for some time now. I have always considered the idea of a phone OS on a tablet as an iffy thing due to the functionality constraints of those OSes. But if this device succeeds on the market with its amazingly limited functionality, then I think the upcoming Snapdragon-based tablets running Android would surpass it. Android is getting Flash very soon and it already has multitasking. What do you think?
You can't actually play PURCHASED VIDEO to another device (like a TV, VGA Monitor, Projector).
http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/bm1k7/the_ipad_hates_freedom_the_ipad_doesnt_like_vga/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/onebutan-iphone/4486591019/
Whenever I see 'fanboi', I imagine a young man in full makeup (lipstick, mascara, rouge, etc...), speaking and acting rather effeminately, and dressed in black. It's a rather spooky sort of image. And I just have to wonder what's in my psyche that I think of that.
Can we change the nickname to Appledudes or something so that I won't have to go into therapy?
They are merely waiting on the straight port.
a Newton Emulator.
Funny how people who neutrally state that they don't understand the hype get modded Redundant and Flamebait, while people writing how they are in love with Apple products and that everything else is complete sh*t get modded Insightful...
Lacking in the early iPad reviews has been any screen shots or actual information on how a two-column small text PDF appears, typical in my scientific arena's journal articles. My use for an iPad would be to provide a convenient means to carry around and read at home (not parked in front of my computer!) my current list of journal articles. As an older person with ever increasily bad eyesight, I can really use the larger screen. So have any slashdot user + iPad adopters had a chance to use it in this context? Another contender is the Skiff reader, but it is stil vaporware and their latest press release seems to suggest they are moving to provide an OS and marketing scheme and moving away from the hardware reader. Pity, as it is just the right size for my needs. I know that one can "Kindle-ize" PDF's, but a) I am lazy and b) I bet they don't come out quite right, so that is not a solution I would want to use. Also, I see that Papers has been released for iPad just today, so maybe it is worth a trip to the Apple Store to have a look myself.
I've seen religious fundamentalists less devoted than Appleists.
If there is no flash, there is no point. A good chunk of websites (est 30-40% Cite) use flash which Apple blatently alienates. I'll stick to my laptop and my tethered iPhone and get better results.
I agree with Cory. It reminds me of CD-ROMs also.
That nifty Elements App (from Wolfram) is exactly like that. It just seems weird not to be able to hyperlink to content outside the CD-ROM -er- I mean iPad App. (Of course, you can launch a browser, but but App would do that because its job to to get you to view the content you just bought.)
The UI of CD-ROM (and maybe iPad Apps) was terrible also. Everyone CD-ROM title decided they needed a different GUI. Getting he back/next buttons, address bar in the browser was a such a big step forward.
does it run Linux?
Srsly. Wake me up when it has been cracked and I can run what I want on it. Oh, and when I can buy replacement batteries.
Or when HTC or Asus make a clone. That might be easier and cheaper. It just doesn't have the bling.
thegodmovie.com - watch it
"The shiny". (I may have coined the phrase).
"The shiny" is the feature that the iPod Touch/iPhone has that causes people to buy it.
"The shiny" is the stuff as Disney World sold at the exit of every ride.
"The shiny" is the stuff that every street vendor WISHES they had.
Being a "geek", I don't think much of the features of the iPhone. I did buy my wife one, and received a "free" iPod Touch when I bought a Mac computer (to support the aforementioned iPhone). Nice because I put games on the iPod, and can throw it back to the kids on car trips. Just to show you that I have gotten over my perfectly justified hate of Apple Computers (check into my history if you really want to know why).
But the iPhone is not a technical match for my Blackberry. Now, the 'berry has almost zero of "The shiny". But it gets into the trenches and works.
I was a rabid Apple hater from 1988 to 2008 -- 20 years worth. I've decided to give Apple another chance. Initially, Apple blew it (because I was reticent to dive in all the way). I drank more deeply at the Apple fount, and now I am happy.
Why? It's not the technical aspects of the product. It's all in "The Shiny".
Just another "Cubible(sic) Joe" 2 17 3061
I blogged a little about this earlier. In summary I think Apple is about to get its just deserts. A lot of the iPad's target audience will be iPhone users, who have grown weary of Apple keeping their products locked down so tight, and the company's pervasive controlling attitude. That is likely to hurt iPad sales, which will in turn hurt newspaper and magazine publishers that would have been relying on the iPhone and iPad as vessels for content delivery. The whole situation is a terrible shame, and a good argument in favour of open companies and open products.
The wifi version's model number is A1337, how cool is that?
could we have a maximum of 1 apple story a day, and 3-4 a week ? I'm reaching saturation with the fanboi blabber on both sides.
The Cloud - because you don't care if your apps and data are up in the air.
I don't get the pissing and moaning from my fellow techies on this one.
Sure It has limitations and software is controlled by Apple (unless you jailbreak).
But this is more like an appliance than a full fledged computer and it isn't really meant to replace your laptop or desktop, but co-exist with them.
From the hands on videos, it is clear the engineering on this one is very tight. HW/SW integration produces an extremely responsive package in a small lightweight package that can go all day.
As an appliance platform, it appears to be impeccable.
Not every device has to be totally open. I don't need or even want to spend hours similar to what I spend tweaking my PC also tweaking a tablet appliance.
I don't own anything Apple and I am not sure I will buy an iPad, but it doesn't look like it delivers a fine coffee table appliance and I would certainly like to try it.
I really can't get anyone who considers themselves a tech enthusiast being too close minded to try one for themselves.
You know there's something that's out there already called the "droid". It works great and does everything and more than the Ipad and actually fits in your pocket.
That way there are fewer sophisticated, proprietary systems controlling things like ride quality, HVAC, audio delivery, window mechanisms, window defrost, windshield wipers.. Regular, 'utilitarian' features like stamped steel wheels and 'get the job done' tires, rather than equipment better suited for an 18-wheeler, aircraft, or aircraft carrier.
The iPad is an iPod Touch XL. It will never be as complete a device as the iPhone - it will never make phone calls, it doesn't have a camera, doesn't act as a video phone, doesn't allow access to my choice of content, unless you consider rehashed Project Gutenberg files fair game.
The whole thing is a play straight from the Disney board:
1. Take one serving public domain content
2. Tart up with dancing princesses and talking animals
3. Distribute via proprietary channel, with product tie-ins
4. ???
5. Profit!
I have seen this becoming a huge problem over the last few years. As we move into a world where everybody has a capable, connected browsing machine in their pocket, Apple is having a hugely harmful effect on competition and the open web.
The last decade has all been about getting rid of platform-specific bullshit on the web. The number of sites that only work on IE has gone down. The existence of Firefox, Chrome, and yes even Safari helps to keep web developers honest. Apple now wants to erase all these benefits in the MID space.
And it's working. Ask someone on the street what they should do if they need a mobile app. "Write an iPhone app!" No. Do me a favor, people, and when you hear someone say that, scold them. This is the wrong direction. We don't need a corporate gatekeeper towards the mobile Internet; we don't need it to be synonymous with one corporation. We don't need to give this much power to a single entity to set the prices and the terms, to add restrictions on the code we run, to lock us into their world view, and yes, prevent us from something as simple as changing a battery.
We need a variety of mobile platforms to keep folks like Apple honest. We need competition. We need the world's information to be accessible even if we go for something from Google, Nokia, Palm, RIM, even Microsoft, or whatever startup doesn't even exist yet.
For the "consumer" (defined in this case as the 99% of the population who are not competent programmers),
an information/entertainment appliance that:
1. "just works",
2. has a single, simple way to obtain good apps or good content (e.g. movies), and has
3. Has well-designed, human-factors-centric user interface, ergonomics and design affordances
will trump a gadget/network with openness of programming architecture any time.
If the open world wants to compete in this space, it needs to somehow achieve 1.,2., and 3. above
while also being open in some meaningful sense.
I put this out there as a challenge. Can the Android world, for example, improve to that level?
Remember, Freedom's just another word for this thing doesn't work!
Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
This is also exactly why so many slashdotters hate the thing. It's nothing more than an ipod so big I can't even fit it in my pocket. Why in the world would I want that?
Back in the earliest days of the iPhone I bought an iPod touch. I configured it for the wifi at home, work and school and saw little need for an iPhone. I had a laptop but when in class or lying on the couch I found the iPad touch much more convenient for giving email or the web a quick check. After a week or so I recall thinking that I wish the screen resolution was doubled in both dimensions, it would be a much more practical browser. I don't think this was a very original thought, I've encountered many iPhone/iPod touch users who would have liked one that had a larger screen. There has always been a market for a device that was nothing more than a larger iPod touch, Apple has finally met and exceeded this customer want.
Fitting the device in my pocket was a non-issue, I carried my iPod touch in my backpack. Had something like the iPad been available there were many days where I would have tossed it in my backpack and have left the laptop at home. Had the iPad been introduced at the same time as the original iPod touch I would have probably purchased the iPad.
--
Perpenso Calc for iPhone and iPod touch, scientific and bill/tip calculator, fractions, complex numbers, RPN
"Why pay 500-800 for this thing, when you can just buy a laptop?" More features for your money.
My name is Jeff, and I am a PC.
"Life without plastic walls."
A wacom digitizer input on the screen with capacitive touch. A full version of OSX instead of a beefer iPhone OS. The iPad is a very nice product but, for me it's just not good enough. Perhaps the next iteration will have the wacom input I want most.
It seems as though you are not so upset at the size of the iPad, but the size of your pockets.
Will the iPad fit in a lab coat pocket? Or more generally in the pocket of clinical clothing for doctors and nurses? I think those pockets would be far more interesting than those in jeans.
--
Perpenso Calc for iPhone and iPod touch, scientific and bill/tip calculator, fractions, complex numbers, RPN
The flash, I mean. I have used flash blocking for years. I do a lot of stuff online, and I rarely, if ever, actually open any of the flash apps. They're about 99.95 percent advertisements. The video that I want to view is mostly available in HTML 5 these days. I think it's been several months since i opened a flash app. My wife, who knows nothing about computers apart from how to apply stickers to them, also uses flash blocking (my suggestion in response to browser slowdowns and inconveniences she was complaining about), and she misses nothing. I don't think she even realizes you can click on them to view them.
STOP . AMERICA . NOW
This is also exactly why so many slashdotters hate the thing. It's nothing more than an ipod so big I can't even fit it in my pocket. Why in the world would I want that?
Because your argument against the iPad is basically a repeat of others' rants, and because the argument itself is just plain pathetic, I hope that in the very near future clothes with an iPad-sized pocket dominate so that for the next ten years you will be able to show us all how contrary you are simply by having an empty iPad pocket.
Everyone is clamoring over the iPad calling it a Kindle-Killer but the device is more than an eReader.
How is it a Kindle killer? Amazon publishes a Kindle app for the iPhone where you can buy digital books from Amazon, doesn't this app run on the iPad? Kindle is more than a hardware device and I have to wonder if Amazon really wants to be an electronic device developer and manufacturer.
--
Perpenso Calc for iPhone and iPod touch, scientific and bill/tip calculator, fractions, complex numbers, RPN
[Alan Kay's] hypothetical DynaBook bears striking similarity to what Apple finally came up with.
Except that the Dynabook would have been end-user programmable, with Kay intending to invest substantial research into designing a programming system simple enough for almost anyone to use.
Most of the people here are missing the point. The iPad is all about paying for content. And the content isn't cheap. The Wall Street Journal costs more on the iPad than on paper. $5 a month seems to be a typical price for online magazines. The iPad creates a direct connection between content providers and your wallet.
And there's no ad-blocking. You will will watch the ads. The "app" concept means that the program, not the user, has control. If the program wants you to look at the ad for 10 seconds, you will look at the ad for 10 seconds.
What I don't like is all the publicity claiming it's going to change the way we use technology. Yes, it looks like a cool device and when the price comes down I'll probably buy one if there isn't an Android tablet out yet. But to try and claim it is some revolutionary device and it is going to change the way I use computers is basically calling me an idiot and that Apple will now tell me what I want. So it's not the device itself that brings out the hate in a lot of people, it's the way people worship anything that Apple creates as an instant necessity to daily life.
I've been 'tinkering' with computers since 1974 when I built an A-to-D & an D-to-A interface card for an IMP-16p Microprocessor.
I still tinker with several FOSS Projects as well as writing Unix Server software for a living, but since I've moved from PC to a MAC, I don't have to tinker with it anymore. It does what I want it to without having to fight the frigging O/S all the time. Anti-virus software does not get in the way like it did before. I know I could tinker with the MacBook that this is being written on but there is no need. no need to install ATI or Nvidia graphics drivers, constantly update the AV Software etc etc. No Windows Genuine Advantage crapware. Phew, I can get on with using the thing rather than having to manage it. All I do is connect up my external hdd once a week and run a time machine backup. Easy. Simple and OOTB!
I won't be buying an iPad but I know quite a few people who would find it just what they want. Many of them have PC's running Windows 98 or XP and are looking for a new device to surf the web and send some emails. I think that an iPad might very well be an ideal replacement device for them. They are not tinkerers by any means.
The Computer market is maturing. Apple have recognised this and IMHO, are right on the nail with the iPad.
I'd rather be riding my '63 Triumph T120.
Why in the world would I want that?
It's quite possible that you don't want it. Here's a thought: don't buy one! What's the big deal?
Dave Winer's 1-Tweet review: 'As much as it pains me to say it -- this fcuker is pretty fcuking cool.'
well it sounds like she is as thick as you are - birds of a feather, as it were.
It does less than a similarly equipped laptop, and for only twice the price!
Speaking as someone who wants an iPad but won't get one for that very reason, I say mod that guy up.
You can't take the sky from me...
Yes, MS should have hidden it in a shell company that was hard to trace back. Then they could get a loft and hire some trendy interior decorator to design the layout. Then they'd need to hire a 20-something male model who can talk technology to be the "founder". Kind of a "Jobs" the next generation.
I'm an iPhone user (but not a Mac OS or Mac user) that posted to Slashdot around the time of announcement that I probably wouldn't buy an iPad. The more I've learned, however, the more I'm inclined to get one. My iPhone is the central informational appliance in my life and has been since I got it a year ago; I only turn on the PC when I absolutely have to for content creation (I'm a writer/editor). But the PC now seems so inconvenient, slow, and encumbered by a lousy user interface.
When at home, I often find myself wishing I had the iPhone user interface on a larger device. I now think I'll get an iPad as well sometime in the next 6 months. iPad = home computing, iPhone = mobile computing, PC = serious work. Each has a role. But I can totally see myself tied to the iPad after 5:00 PM. Only complexity is that I also have an investment in e-readers, which I love, and I don't know that the iPad can compete with e-ink for serious reading... yet it seems like overkill to own both e-readers and an iPad. If only someone would come up with a fast-refresh color e-ink touchscreen and build it into the iPad, I'd die a happy user.
STOP . AMERICA . NOW
once someone has bothered jailbreaking it. Prior to that - no chance of me spending my cash on it as my interest in feeding Mr Murdoch and his ideas is exactly zero.
It's an interesting step. I think we will see devices down the line (add cameras, eye tracking and general inventiveness) that come close to a cut down version of Neal Stephenson's "Diamond Age" ideas. But right now it's nowhere near that. Just an interesting piece of hardware that I can use as a glorified screen/reader/remote. Which is pretty much what I will do. If someone hacks the damn thing.
I've had a wonderful time, but this wasn't it -- Groucho Marx
Not everyone wants cheap content. For those that do there are many different venues. The people that the WSJ is aimed at does not live in a world of cheap content. In fact, like doctors, they want over priced everything so they can justify their overblown salaries.
As far as ads, one thing with the iPad are ad free publication that may be cheaper than even a subscription. This is value. Another thing with ads is that they do pay for the content, and are in fact useful to many people. An individual may say that they ads are useless to them, and if that is true then the publisher does not really care if you read the journal or not. In most journals I read, the ads are educational. The local newspaper is still relevant because it connects consumers and products. So while ads on the computer are getting a bit out of line, they are not horrible. Even on netflix, where they want to spend five minutes talking to me about birth control, I just turn down the volume in that window and read something.
We really don't know what the ad and price model for the iPad is going to be. I can tell you that I would rather have the iPhone than anything with flash as it does block the ads. Since I like to get paid for I do, I don't have a moral bias against others getting paid for what they do, and therefore do not have a moral bias against ads. I know many people would not help to lift a finger to help others unless there was payment involved, but whose wallets close when anything expenditure is expected from them.
In any case, it looks like content may be expensive on the iPad, but as is said, that does not mean that one can't browse the web as normal. One might even think of become a creative agent rather than just someone who complains all the time. It is not hard to set up an ad free website that delivers original self funded content.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
sounds like a feminine hygiene product.
These devices both boast superior form factor over options like laptops and cellphones when it comes to reading, especially the Kindle.
I could have made use of a *good* e-reader if any decent options had become available even last year, while I was still engaged with studies in molecular biology and biochemistry. It would have been great to be able to carry around the content of my huge (and seriously fucking expensive) textbooks for those fields on a convenient device, but the display needs to be in colour and have to have good resolution to be useful. None of the devices I've seen come close.
From my point of view, the case is closed. I'm not planning on going back to formal studies again any time soon, so my (mostly recreational) reading material can remain on paper, which has a much more congenial feel and smell.
i bought one today but after a few hours, took it back. i see no reason or purpose for it. I have a droid, best phone/os combo ever. i have a win7 laptop that is faster than any mac laptop. all cost significantly less than apple products. it just doesnt do anything that my droid and laptop dont already do. why waste $800 for something that wont be used? windows tablets never caught on for same reason, they are not needed.
1st impressions of iPad:
*looks an awful lot like the top of a 13" MacBook Pro
*weighs a bit more than it looks like it would
*probably should have popped for the case b/c it seems like one would want to carry it around like a book
*typing on-screen is easier to get used to than I thought it would be (can't say about long term though)
*"optimized" gmail works pretty well
*software-wise I already miss the feeling that open source is available ("I was wrong to break up with you, baby; please, can't we get back together? . . . well then, how about one for the road?")
*screen-orientation gyro ("accelerometer"?) is a bit testy out of the box
*not a computer, that's for sure
*also not quite Bill Atkinson's "magic slate", but almost there
I would say I probably paid about $200 too much and bought maybe 2 gen.s too early.
Nature of the beast, eh.
seems to have a problem with the iPad not being open enough for him. Unfortunately, he seems to have missed out on a lot of recent history.
Today anything that can accept unrestricted program code from the world at large has the possibility of getting taken over by malevalent forces. It isn't that Windows is insecure, it is that it is a computer without an administrator. Phones have been "taken over" and I assure you, they aren't running Windows somewhere deep within a Blackberry or iPhone.
Cory wants openness and the freedom to introduce new software. Fine, but without controls the iPad becomes just another platform for stealing things from people. Just like PCs are today. The difference right now is that Apple's iPhone and iPad are rather restrictive appliances. You can't take over and trojan an appliance, use it to steal credit card and bank information or send spam with it.
What maybe 10% of the world needs is general-purpose open programmable computing. The other 90% needs an appliance that can't have its functionality taken over or its utility subverted. How long will it be before there is a trojan/phishing application for Android? Not long, I would guess. The rewards for doing this will be considerable, even if it is discovered the first week it exists. If Apple can block 90% of the attempts at this - and I suspect they have blocked 100% of them so far - they will keep the appliance world safe.
Cory seems to want everyone to live in some virus-laden spam-infested world and to have the kind of freedom to program that Richard Stallman values. OK, how many people can really take advantage of this? Well, I guess in that world if you have no programming skills you are a second-class citizen, unfit to do anything except delete the spam that fills your inbox.
I could not agree more. the ipad is merely the next step in the iTunes/uPayAndPayAndPay business model that Apple has "innovated".
Maybe I have missed it, but there don't seem to be any articles or reviews talking about the true cost of using the iPad. The "it's not for you, its for the masses" crowd doesn't seem to have a realistic understanding of the average joe's budget.
I was in Wal-Mart last week when I happened to walk by a customer interested in one of the iThingamadealies (don't ask me which, I didn't get that close a look, other than the shiny white finish). Anyhow, as the cashier showed him the display model, the customer in examining it turned it over to look for the battery compartment. When it was finally drilled into him by the exasperated employee (who really needed to be commended on his patience) that there *was no* removable battery, the customer left immediately, without even considering the competitors' products. There's a moral in that story, but I can't tell if it's something to do with Apple's amazing ability to market its products as one-of-a-kind maguffins or its insistence on making said products islands unto themselves, but as I saw it go down, what was "good" for Apple turned out to be bad not only for Apple, but for the entire industry.
MSIE: The world's most standards-complaint web browser.
more and more toys comming, the greater pleasure is to use plain old brain without any distractions.
... after watching the videos I'd like to have one, but Apple price policy really pisses me off: $139 more for the models with a 3G chip (plus monthly plan) when a 3G chip costs between $5 and $9 (the most expensive one).
IPad looks surprisingly cool. The thing that makes the device for me is the redesigned keynote which can do slide transitions and animations. Couple this with slate form factor and light weight and this looks like a perfect machine to lug around at conferences. I will probably wait until the dual digitizer mods appear though because I want to be able to take notes with this as well.
Here is what Kay got wrong, as far as the iPad is concerned:
....
- Users can write their own programs for the device
- Kay viewed the Dynabook as a content creation and viewing device, while the iPad is mainly a content viewing device.
Apple got so much right with the iPad, but missed a golden opportunity. The hardware and OS are good enough. The fact that the masses can't (effectively) write apps for it means that Alan Kay's vision still has not been realized. Maybe Android on Wacom/ASUS/AMD hardware would do the trick.
> Dutch IT consultant Hans Schoenmakers, 49, proudly declared himself the first person from the Netherlands to own the shiny gadget: "It's better than I thought. I will use it for email while on the couch -- and Internet and reading books."
Ok. Let's go to work:
> "It's better than I thought. By buying this, I feel affirmation as an Apple consumer. I will use it for email while on the couch - though I shall spurn any application - communictaions or otherwise - offered by third-party developers like Google unless they have the blessing of Cupertino -- and Internet -- something I could never before -- and reading books -- approved by Cupertino - purchased at an approved iStore with all the necessary DRM. Truth is, I'm lousy at choice so I appreciate Cupertino doing all the hard work for me."
http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/digital-life-news/apples-ipad-hits-the-market-20100404-rl3x.html
Apple has produced a device in both hardware and software that exceeds in areas of form factor, performance, and functionality. The size is comparable to a magazine and fairly lightweight at 1.5-1.6 pounds. The interface is intuitive and very responsive, and it functions pretty much all day. Apple's mature app-store and the device's elegance are encouraging the morphing of the computing landscape. The iPad will likely usher in the post-Flash web. The Internet has been waiting for this device for about 15 years. This is the dawn of a new era of computing, and those tablets that you mentioned were just the prologue.
Sure, there are competitors (JooJoo, HP Slate, Dell, Acer, etc.), but they fail in form factor, interface, simplicity, longevity, expandability, or responsiveness. When Google and Microsoft get their act together, we'll finally see some real competition, but they'll be minor players fighting over what is left of the market.
In the meantime, naysayers will see that neither cameras nor Flash will be necessary for success, but 'fun' is. Cameras will likely be an important and integral feature to appear in future iterations.
hulu, old netflix, youtube(changing), flash games(line rider), last.fm, pandora, thedailyshow.com, most streaming TV sites. You never use any of that?
The lack of media formats is what is killing it for me. It supports h264 in a mp4 container just like my ps3, but they do not in any way over lap on the spec, my ps3 needs main or higher level 4 or higher h264 video, the ipad needs baseline level 3 and no more than 30 fps. So that would be, 1 copy ofr the ps3, one for my mythical iPhone, and one for my mythical iPad. The lack of both my ps3 and mythical iPad to support mkv containers is annoying as well, because I could put the whole dvd menus and all in them.
All of the above was encrypted with a Quad ROT-13 method. Unauthorized decryption is in violation of the DMCA.
It was a gift. She says i can look at it tomorrow, maybe...
Wow! Apple invented the MP3 player, the cell phone and the tablet PC! You learn something new every day here on Slashdot! Back in the real world, Apple produce moderately unsucky versions of consumer devices that have been in the market for years, and throw vast amounts of advertising at selling them.
Ok, heres the deal. I live in Soviet New Zealand, we have crappy 3G, still no Kindle, basically no Android devices, certainly not the Droid or Nexus One, JUST got the Tivo (although not the latest version!) and right now, I've gone over my 10GB a month "bandwidth cap" and have been reduced to "dialup speeds". I've really enjoyed watching my network access speeds in Activity Monitor, less than 10KB per second up or down. Wonderful stuff!
:)
In New Zealand, at least the part I live in, we have essentially ZERO Apple advertising. Apple Haters, feel free to move here, you'll love it. We might get an ad or two for the new iPhone, when it comes out, but thats really it. Hey, I wont be surprised if its a year before we get this "iPad"
And yet, if you offered to the average person on the street, a Nexus One/Droid/Pre/Storm 2 in one hand, and an iPhone 3GS in the other, there would be no fsking way that you'd get the iPhone back. Based on a random person, in a country where neither device has been advertised (the non iPhones I mentioned are essentially not even goddam sold here!), I'm very sure the iPhone would be chosen.
I'll let you know in a year or two, when I might get an iPad 3GS++ Pro of my own, but Im quite sure that an uniformed person would absolutely take an iPad over a netbook.
---
After having read this post a couple days ago on using the iPad at an angle, I specifically considered this when checking one out in the Apple store today. The iPads at the store sit on a low cylinder, angled slightly toward the user. It will go unnoticed by those test-driving the iPad, but the angle definitely enhances the experience. I took it off the stand and used it on the flat table which was noticeably less comfortable. This issue isn't a show-stopper, but it's definitely something to consider when thinking about how you'll use the iPad.
Yeah! Let's go back to the '80s!
It'll be so hip for everyone to have brick sized devices again! And people can show off how cool they have, by specifically buying clothes with huge pockets just to carry them! And anyone who isn't hip enough to have big pockets filled with their brick sized Istale will feel uncool and "how contrary"!
Posts like you just show how sad your attitude is, and prove it really is about attempting to look pathetically cool, even though no one actually gives a damn about nerd products or the nerd clothes you specifcally got for it, or your Apple logo shining out your oversized coat pocket.
show us all how contrary
Me and the 95% of the non-Apple phone owning population. We prefer to Think Different, you see.
"Windows was a fucking popular OS, therefore the fucking Zune will be too".
The comparison to the fucking Ipod - Apple's sole mainstream product, their one hit wonder - is an all too common fallacy, but fuck, it's laughable if you fucking think about it.
[edited to include more swearing]
This may come as a surprise to you, but there are lots of people who never use those sites. Ever.
No Phone
No Camera
No Printer
No Scanner
No Fax
No DVD Writer
Just One Screen
No Removable Batteries
No Numeric Keypad
No Barcode Reader
No Serial Ports
No Expansion Cards
No Disk Bays
No Norton Virus Protection
No Led Status Lights
No Handles
No Dongles
No Wheels
NO CAPS LOCK
Just to be clear, about 99% of the people who respond to "So, those of you who have picked up or received an iPad already: how do you like it?" didn't buy it but do have a very strong opinion about it, be it positive or negative?
I'm holding out judgement until I get one in my hands (and probably be angry if I like it and want to buy one)
I used an iPad for about 30 minutes today in the Apple Store. It's a giant iPod touch.
I keep hearing how fast the browser is, but I'm not seeing it. Yes, it's faster - compared to the iPhone 3G or even the 3GS. But take, for example, Engadget.
Engadget loads in about 2 seconds on my ThinkPad in Chrome. Not only does it load, but it's fully rendered, ready for smooth scrolling and instant interaction. The iPad takes 20+ seconds to do the same thing, and while the page is loading scrolling is surprisingly slow. Yes, it's smooth, but the checkerboard pattern is everywhere and it takes forever to disappear.
Using the browser, you just can't shake the impression that this thing is an iPhone/iPod Touch. Things load slower, everything is annoyingly scaled, it's impossible to do things like drag/drop, and using multiple pages at once is harder.
Then there are other things, like the fact that you can't use a USB printer/scanner (some of us *do* occasionally print things out), the fact that you can't plug in a USB storage device and copy files around, the fact that it's totally useless as a development environment, or the fact that you can't run multiple apps at the same time.
It's abundantly clear that this *isn't* a revolution. The revolution happened in 2007 when the iPhone came out and made touchscreen technology work. This is an evolution, a bigger and (usually) better version of a product we all know. And while it's clear that the iPhone's technology makes it a great PDA/Phone, it's also abundantly clear that it does a poor job of replacing a PC.
The iPhone had 18% share of smartphone sales in the fourth quarter. Time to wake up.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
Maybe I have missed it, but there don't seem to be any articles or reviews talking about the true cost of using the iPad. The "it's not for you, its for the masses" crowd doesn't seem to have a realistic understanding of the average joe's budget.
There's always money for beer and drugs, electronic or otherwise. Especially when the money is on credit. Among many aspects here, I find that the thing being expensive quite offensive. When selling drugs, isn't the first one supposed to be free? I guess the addiction is already well established and this is just a new kind of needle.
The populace has been so well trained into the mode of "stupid consumer" that this device will be welcomed with open arms. Go Humans! I'm SO proud of you.
-FL
I can't imagine people keep repeating about 'giant ipod touch', 'just another tablet' and not accepting that it is a 'new' kind of device. It is not designed to be a laptop replacement or a phone replacement. It is something new and functions complementary to a laptop or desktop.
Anyways, here is my blog entry, some might find amusing.
http://srujan.org/wordpress/2010/04/03/the-dinner-plate/
When iPad was unveiled on Jan 27th I was following the live blogging of the event and a thought struck me. I felt that though it is a new device, it fulfills a very old need. The need that we had as early as the time when desktop computers were invented. I felt like we were living in a weird world where up until now nobody understood the basic need of such a device and nobody invented it. The world was as weird as the world where dinner plate was not invented.
Imagine this world without dinnerware. The people in this world do cook and eat food just like us and they do have very elaborate cuisine with lot of variety. They have well equipped kitchens and dining rooms, but till a few years back had no dinnerware. So what do they use for eating ? They simply use the cookware. Pots and pans are used for cooking and also for eating the food. It is not that these people are of any primitive kind. They have state of the art multipurpose cookware that can help make a wide variety of foods. “Why do we need a different utensil to eat food ?”, some of them say, as they feel the pots and pans are perfect for eating.
This world is not without problems. There are many people who are not cook-savvy and still need to eat food. They don’t know how to properly handle the cookware and get burnt while touching the hot surfaces. They don’t know the proper way of using spoons and forks in the teflon coated pans and sometimes accidentally scratch them. But who cares about the less cook-savvy people anyways. They can ruin their cookware as they wish or maybe use wooden spoons. Besides, the cookware is so cheap they can replace it every few months.
It is not true that these guys had no items specially made for eating food rather than making food. They did have cups and glasses, but there was no substitute for a nice frying pan if you want to eat your main course. It was about this time when a small plate, better known as saucer was invented. The saucer was a huge success. People liked the idea that it was flat and attractive and easy to clean. The less cook-savvy didn’t have to worry about spoiling the coating and there was no need of a proper way of using the forks. They could even eat the main course in it if they wish. They just had to eat small portions at a time.
Some cookware makers did understand the need of a cheap pan that was more suited for eating purpose. They made a small plastic pan called net-pan. The net-pan was not really suitable for eating as it had the handle, but the makers thought that just by reducing the size and making it cheap, a fry-pan could be used for eating and maybe for some light cooking. But then some weird guy thought that the net-pans are just a piece of junk and he came up with an idea of a Dinner Plate. He said the dinner plate fits between a saucer and a pan. Immediately, some started thinking it is a failed product. They said : “It is neither a saucer, nor a pan. What is the use of such an expensive item when you could not make an omelet in it ?”, while others thought “It is just a large saucer”. Many food and dining critiques are still contemplating the real use of this new object.
If you haven’t noticed, we have been living in such a weird world. Just replace the pots and pans with desktops and laptops and the saucer and dinner plate with smart-phone and iPad. We did have sufficient variety of computers to produce data and content, but had very few options to consume them, and among them was missing a device for large scale consumption of dat
If you have a problem with WSJ costing more than the print edition, then don't subscribe to it. It is WSJ itself that determines the price, not Apple. The market will find the equilibrium.
As for ad-blocking, there are always proxy servers like Privoxy that can filter out ads.
The iPad doesn't have Flash.
"Seven Deadly Sins? I thought it was a to-do list!"
Open the door to the iPad, Hal
Their they're doing there hair.
So he can get one device with no cables or router that does everything he needs and is easy to learn.
Sorry, but he can't. The iPads require connecting to iTunes before they'll do anything. It's the first thing they prompt you to do out of the box. Also, if there are ever any problems that require an update, a restore, or anything else, he'll also need that computer with iTunes to have any hope of fixing them.
Didn't Buckminister Fuller say "The best way to predict the future is to design it" ?!
well im not trying to be anti ipad hear but apple did not pull out anything new with this device. they took a ipod and gave it a bigger screen. and there is better tablets out there that are pcs not a ipod extra large. but i guess if you want a really big ipod have at it. but i would say getting a laptop that folds into a tablet would be a better option both are priced around the same both whont fit in your pocket but the laptop is well a laptop. if apple had packed a imac into a tablet at this price point then i would be excited abought this product. so thats what the geeks as you say are complaining abought, if you own a ipod or iphone and most of us do there is no point in getting a ipad you are rebuying the same product just larger. i think apple is trying to revive the tablit pc market riding off the fame of the ipod. but i dont think its going to work, the main issue with tablets has always been the fact they where vastly underpowerd compard to a notebook, this has been changing and apple could have done alot more.
The actual utility of the product aside, what scares me is the absolute fetishism about the ipad. Apple has (ingeniously) depended on marketing and the fact they're Apple and get instant attention and free media coverage to create huge markets for products that people didn't need or want.
I have a handful of friends who desparately want an ipad without knowing why. That's just unnerving to me...but I guess that's nothing new in this economy.
The shady paying off of colbert to rave about the ipad and mock it's competitors was freaky too.
As for the product itsself, it's nifty I guess, but I don't need one.
Kay proposed the same price nominally for the Dynabook as today's iPad. But, adjusting for inflation, $500 in 1972 was about equal to $2535 today.
Troll my ass. It's a completely legitimate take. This is why Slashdot should bump moderators who can't tell the difference between a troll and an alternate point of view.
Mod abuse yet again - I get modded flamebait for parodying the OP's swearing, yet using "fuck" - when it's in support of Apple - is perfectly fine.
Really? They stopped using UNIX under the candy-colored GUI? I can't open up my MacPro and insert whatever device I buy or build? My MBPro is less upgradeable than the Dell that weighs three times as much?
Good to know...