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iPad Owners Are 'Selfish Elites'
An anonymous reader writes "It's not exactly official, but should also surprise no one: According to a new study the psychological profile of iPad owners can be summed up as 'selfish elites' while have-not critics are 'independent geeks.' Consumer research firm MyType conducted the study, in which opinions of 20,000 people were analyzed between March and May. The firm's conclusion was that iPad owners tend to be wealthy, sophisticated, highly educated and disproportionately interested in business and finance, while they scored terribly in the areas of altruism and kindness. In other words, 'selfish elites.'"
Just wondering?
The way I see it the iPad/Phone/Apple in general is like a very large, beautiful prison cell. Sure, WE might walk far enough to reach the walls and be unhappy about it, but to the average consumer (who doesn't walk far and never reaches the walls), it feels like beautiful freedom. It's like the restrictions don't exists.
Sounds like the owners of most Apple products.
Though, I have been considering an iPad for my technophobic grandfather-in-law, who "has no patience for" Microsoft Windows, OS X, or Ubuntu.
Sampling Bias?
Is this site about news for nerds, or gratuitously bashing companies and/or their customers for no discernible logical reason?
It's official. Most of you are morons.
I was showing this story to Charles, my butler, on my iPad. As he was handing me a snifter of brandy in the reading room he assures me I'm no "selfish elite" or a "snob".
Trolling is a art,
What's an iPad?
vindication!
The cancel button is your friend. Do not hesitate to use it.
How did this bullshit troll article make the front page? C'mon editors, this is ridiculous.
I thought that Apple's market was supposed to be flakey arty creative types, with a smattering of unix geeks who either needed to use Word from time to time, or just didn't feel like fighting with pulseaudio anymore....
When did they add sociopathic assholes to the mix?
Nearly every Apple *fan* that I've met has been a pretentious prick. Now now, I don't mean if you use Apple products you are automatically a prick...but Apple fanboys(girls) are rabid on a level that is just plain scary.
For the record, I personally think Apple makes decent products, they just aren't for me.
Living With a Nerd
My wife just got me one for the birthday. So im going to turn into an asshole? Is this what I have to look forward to? Maybe I should return it or blame my new-found sense of self importance on her!
We use to just call these types "assholes" back in the day
Oh, like my mother, who works for a nature center and is a past president of the local Audubon chapter and gives money to dozens of charitable organizations and spends significant amounts of time caring for my 90-year-old grandpa.
What a troll of an article.
no wonder ipad sold hundreds of thousands so fast on launch and far exceeded steve jobs expectations. i still remember the 5000 dollar screensaver for iphone that just had text that read "i'm rich" and actually sold more than several times.
How can they be described as sophisticated if they fall for the marketing hype?
Let's see - make an iPhone twice the size that can't make phone calls ... yep, sure sounds sophisticated to me.
Like I care about what those insignificant little researchers say. They're just jealous of my success.
Alex, I'll take keybindings not used by Emacs for $400....
The firm's conclusion was that non-iPad owners THINK iPad owners tend to be wealthy, sophisticated, highly educated and disproportionately interested in business and finance, while they scored terribly in the areas of altruism and kindness.
Fixed. What a stupid study. How about you actually see what iPad owners are like, rather than ask people what their opinions of iPad owners are?
Disclaimer: I do not own an iPad
I bought an iPad for my mum...what does that make me?
News at 11.
Seriously ... it's a fairly pricey, non-essential gadget. The demographic they are describing is exactly the one that can afford such a thing and not think twice about it. They also buy many other non-essential shiny things.
You could say the same thing about Mercedes automobiles.
... Bently owners, or any number of high-tech yachts?
Sheesh, so much drivel.
blah, blah, blah...
The selfish elites are moe likely to buy an iPad than not. This does not translate into people who buy iPads being substantially more likely to be selfish elites, unless the population of selfish elites in the population is quite large.
Now where is the Grey Poupon?
"The thing that really strikes me these days is the hatred for ordinary Americans by the elites."
Ordinary Americans have allowed themselves to become loathsome. They think religion is science, they crave circuses instead of information, they are lazy, and they let their pandering media pundits of choice think for them.
It's natural to despise such people. They cannot be changed, improved, or made noble, but they can be milked.
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
I've never seen a group of people so willing to pay a premium for (assumed) social status and pretty hardware in exchange for a platform which requires you to give up most of your freedom to experiment and innovate; except within the strict boundaries of what's allowed by Apple.
boycott slashdot February 10th - 17th check out: altSlashdot.org
Although the writers at MyType may attempt to do an actual study, they post no statistical significance numbers, no methods on how they normalized their bias, and even make the obviously biased mistake of creating two categories or people ("selfish elites" and "independent geeks") without any previous research or precedent that these are scientifically acceptable titles. Also, if I am not mistaken, I believe the plural of elite is elitists, not elites. Why would they make a mistake like that? Because then it RHYMES! Selfish elite vs. Independent geek. Total B.S. link bait. Discussing stuff like this is no different than giving credence to "scientific studies" that prove that people found Noah's Ark or the Earth is only 6000 years old. It's all just attention seeking dressed up like science.
I know 2 people that own iPads: a 60-something guy with a GED that spent his life working as a clerk or a delivery guy and never complained about it and a 91 year old WW2 vet that became a real estate agent after the war. What they both have in common? They're both really inquisitive and they both love new technology. Neither of them are selfish or elite.
Editors: Quit posting troll articles.
and I feel that I'm too good for a mere iPad.
Mytype seems to be one of those net firms that have banner adds to tell you your personality type.
By posting something like this, they get themselves tons of free press. Well done for them.
As far as selfish elites. I don't have an iPad but I was thinking it would be perfect for my retired mom who can't master a mouse...
a selfish independent elitist geek? (translation, i dont have one, but i kinda want one)
Yesterday at the big box store i saw the ipad for the first time, and used it to search imdb for some movie reviews before buying a dvd, and the thing that massively annoyes me about the ipad is, that from a usability point of view, they got it right, it works very nicely for webbrowsing and such. The reason i still wont buy one, it runs iOS instead of OS-X, and thus is tied into apple's view of the world
People, what a bunch of bastards
Was it the same people who concluded that PS3 owners are hardcore gamers, Xbox Live users immature people who constantly question your sexual orientation and Wii owners bowling-loving moms?
Ask anyone (esp. poor people) whether they think they're kinder, more generous than rich people. Then ask them how much they donated to charity in the last year, even as a percentage of their disposable income...
"I love my job, but I hate talking to people like you" (Freddie Mercury)
Yes, they named YOUR grandpa specifically!
"The firm's conclusion was that iPad owners tend to be wealthy, sophisticated, highly educated and disproportionately interested in business and finance, while they scored terribly in the areas of altruism and kindness."
Oh, sorry, no they didn't.
But YOU are an asshole, so it still evens out.
They are called "early adopters" not iPad owners. They've been around since the early days of electronics and in truth go back into the 1800s. People that had to have the latest gadget no matter the cost. Singling out iPad buyers is silly. I didn't buy one because I wanted a camera on it and I have a Touch and all it is is an oversized Touch. I can stick my Touch in my pocket and it's great for watching movies when I travel and music on the road. Will I buy an iPad one day? Probably but a few generations down the line like most people. It's got it's place but it isn't the landmark device Jobs claimed it was. I think in some ways he still views it as the first of it's kind product it was envisioned as being. The problem is they shelved it and released the iPhone and Touch first so it was old news by the time it came out.
Who wrote this? Pol Pot?
I'm not going to apologize for having an education and (finally) having a bit of money - although I still rent and have worked food kitchens. But hey - I'm an intellectual - shoot me and evacuate the cities for farming already. My skull will look good on a shelf.
(seriously this is thing is covered in Teabagger language - are they serious?)
Or any other Apple product. But any study that comes off this way must be seriously flawed and is in no way scientific. First we have the problem of defining what a "selfish elite" is. Call me when the whole world agrees.
This is nothing but a smear campaign. Oh wait, the article says that this "data" was obtained by a "Consumer Research" firm, not the American Psychological Association, or some scientist. If we follow the money, I wonder who hired this company...
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
I haven't seen science like this since my days at salem.
Posting this from my iPad. Look upon me, ye mighty, and despair. Heh.
"You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline." - Frank Zappa
I think this thread should have people including their education, age and salaries along with their comments. I'll be the data correlates to the article. Such hate...
Trolling is a art,
I sure spend a lot of my time altruistically handing my iPad over to every nay-sayer who says that the "iPad sucks/why would you want one/why don't you get a netbook", and have been pretty amazed at the change of heart when they start using it.
I've converted 2 hardcore haters into buyers, and a bunch of "mehs" into "hey, can I borrow your iPad for a bit, I want to show someone this..."
I don't know if the hate comes from the giant price tag, or the closed platform, but once you actually use it, instead of looking at it from a theoretical standpoint, it's incredibly useful.
So sure, maybe us iPad owners have a little more money, but when the base model costs over $600 (stupid taxes) you aren't going to find many minimum wage earners that can afford to play yet ...
We emerge from our mother's womb an unformatted diskette; our culture formats us. - Douglas Coupland
My guess is that a study asking these "independent geek" underachievers about nice cars or fine wine or other luxury goods would find them similarly critical. But I suppose the study is correct that for many there is pressure to conform to your social group by proving your non-conformity by disdaining the iPad.
re "scored terribly in the areas of altruism" from OP: The study may have found that we iPad owners scored low in altruism. Whether that is terrible or good is a subjective judgement and in no way addressed in the study. Besides, Internet posters tend to use the word altruism only when they want to hijack the discussion to be about a certain dead philosopher.
...are like assholes.
Everybody's got one.
Windows 2000 - from the guys who brought us edlin
Good for you then that you're part of the elite and not an ordinary American.
well that is the reason the US doesnt play cricket - the "gentelemen" didnt fancy the posability of being beaten by the "players"
As in the way lesser men "find Jesus"? Then no. They are clearly heathens, intent on besmirching our saviour's good name.
(Apple fanbois, I keed, I keed! I have nothing but love your you and your deity!)
You know, there is a difference between trolling and pointing out the flaws in your reasoning. Just saying.
In other news :
Expensive luxury products are bought by people with lots of money who want luxury for themselves. This probably goes for quite nearly all apple products.
- Captain Obvious
Ferrari, Mansion, Patek Phillipe, Yacht . . .
Sounds like the studiers are jealous.... can we stop making facetious studies to try to stereotype people....
This about the biggest piece of baiting for comments I've ever seen. What a joke.
I know a guy who works for Square D who uses his iPad for email.
His answers are so short that he may as well not answer at all. It is sort of
the equivalent of a grunt instead of actual speech, the way he uses a one-word
answer to respond to complex questions in an email.
This guy's name is Rus Emerick, and he used to be my friend, until he
bought an iPad. I'll be damned if I am going to allow someone to be rude
to me just because they've got a fetish for Apple hardware.
Well yeah, considering that, for most of them (judging by the iPhone users and other macfans), that consists of "it's shiny and makes me look hip."
My mother has an iPad and she fits your gross generalization in no way whatsoever. In fact, she fits into a completely different category I would just call 'convenience based end user.' She cares almost nothing for what others think of her aside from how good her casserole was at the pot luck or if she was a good hostess for Thanksgiving. I'm really tired of the /. mentality on what an Apple product user is.
Reply to That ||
This is just silly. Why bash someone for a personal preference? I don't go after linux or windows users nor do I bash Andriod owners for being . Really, wired magazine, Apple haters, and everyone who has a beef with how I live my live and spend my money... FUCK OFF
I was *Phone-illiterate*. I am solid enough on desktop Windows, but I was basically furious that Windows Mobile 6 didn't "do anything right". So being the absolutely perfect candidate customer, when my upgrade coupon came due, I said, "Hell, why not?" and grabbed an iPhone 3GS. I did spend just enough care to think a little long term, so that the GS bit proved important for the emergence of iOS 4.
So yeah, when iOS gets end-of-lifed, I'll decide about Android, but I didn't buy it for the hipness.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
Maybe I'm fortunate... because the ordinary Americans I interact with are largely nothing like that. Then again, I have the privilege of living in a wealthy state (NJ) -- and while the state is liberal, my neck of the woods is blood red with only a sprinkling of blue.
I think to pity them is more natural than to despise. Unless you're a hater by nature -- but you've already established that.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
Well the "unwashed masses" are generally products of the system set up by the elites, so if the elites don't like the results, why did they set up a system to produce people like this?
As per the religious right, while I am certainly not defending the religious right, I do sort of understand where a lot of them are coming from. The radical shift towards radical religion didn't really start until the 80s the elites started moving factories overseas en mass. When these factories closed a lot of people lost any real shot at finding meaningful work that paid a living wage. People want to find SOMETHING meaningful in their lives and since working retail isn't exactly the most fulfilling of occupations people start to look elsewhere for a reason to get up in the morning. The religious right was able to seize upon this unease and started pushing people into finding meaning in their life by becoming religious zealots.
Elites complaining about the society in which they shaped does strike me as a bit hypocritical.
Monstar L
These researchers are dumb idiots. They have no clue what they are talking about and are all just dumb, poor idiots without any friends. I bet they are all redneck republicans, too. They live in the bible belt and work on dirty farms! They haven't even been to grad school! Sent from my iPad.
FOXTROT UNIFORM CHARLIE KILO
...they have children. No story here, folks. Move along...
---- Please be nice in case my Slashdot karma ~= my real life karma.
Except they're not the ordinary Americans. They get all the soundbytes (and as such, appear to be the norm) because they're nutjobs, but really, they're not the ordinary ones.
"Ordinary Americans have allowed themselves to become loathsome. They think religion is science, they crave circuses instead of information, they are lazy, and they let their pandering media pundits of choice think for them.
It's natural to despise such people. They cannot be changed, improved, or made noble, but they can be milked."
Say the same thing about niggers. I DARE YOU. Replace "ordinary American" with "ordinary black thug". "It's natural to despise such people. They cannot be changed, improved or made noble, but they can be milked."
I work for a law enforcement agency in IT, and one of the high mucky mucks decided to try out the iPad since another high mucky muck bought one. Now most of the command and admin staff have been issued the devices as well.
From a "user" standpoint, it's... A neat toy. I bought my daughter an iPod touch, and effectively that's all it is. Bigger, heavier. The book reader is nice, some of the aps are pretty decent, but really isn't anything ground breaking. Not by a long shot.
Now, taken from my profession's standpoint, it has the potential to be a very useful device. Currently we use laptops in our cruisers ("MDT", mobile data terminal) which we can use to connect to LEAPS (Law Enforcement Automated Processing System) and run plates, wants/warrants, BOP (bureau of parole) etc. I don't know if you've ever lifted a Panasonic Toughbook, but you could use one of these things to beat a whale to death. With a relatively simple ruggedized case, and at only about $900 (as opposed to $5500), iPads would be a great alternative for officers on foot patrol, bike, Segway and the like. However AT&T sucks balls. I am aware of talks that Verizon will be an available option for the iPad, which is currently the provider we use. They give us fixed IPs, restricted connections (i.e. goes from MDT to Verizon, from Verizon to our building's router, then off to LEAPS). Officers wouldn't be able to write reports since our and most report writing / case tracking systems for law enforcement require at least Java, but still, they'd be a great addition to the tools available.
IF Verizon offers normal business plans (which AT&T won't for these devices or iPhones), and IF Apple were to pull their collective heads out of their collective backsides, iPads have the potential to find their way into a lot of industries, and I can see many uses in emergency services. For EMTs, for fire and rescue, for law enforcement, the ability to bring up floor plans of buildings, maps, health records, I could go on and on. However, limited choice of providers and a lack of any sort of discount make it unlikely. Beyond the "Well HE got one, we need one!" attitude which landed this thing in my lap, the purchase never would have been made had we not faced an end of fiscal budget, and "spend it all or next year you get less" (which boggles my mind, frankly... I would get penalized if I didn't spend ALL of my budget). But Apple insists on offering no price breaks, they insist on going through iTunes to activate the stupid things, they insist on going through their company for any sort of new application installation (yes yes, I know about the court case and jail breaking), and currently they insist on using AT&T.
Anyway... Ramble ramble. They're neat toys, power to the people, off with their heads, bad social elite snobbery, blah blah.
I guess my son is being an elitist snob when he plays Angry Birds or watches Batman cartoons on my iPad.
Jesus people it's a toy. An expensive toy, but a toy. Not everything in your laptop bag is a statement about who you are. If you make it that, you have larger issues than device envy.
Maybe we can find a story about how android device owners think they are better than winmo device owners because their device runs linux.
From the summary:
which opinions of 20,000 people were analyzed between March and May. The firm's conclusion was that iPad owners tend to be wealthy, sophisticated, highly educated and disproportionately interested in business and finance, while they scored terribly in the areas of altruism and kindness
They profile is not based on analysis of actual iPad owners, just collected opinions of what people thought iPad owners were like. The opinions of 20,000 people were collected, regardless of whether that person had an iPad or not.
Disclaimer:
* I own an iPad
* would qualify as wealthy compared to 98% of the world population
* college educated
* work in financial industry (but not overly interested in business / finance)
* it hard to self-judge kindness
* but do give to charity
so the profile (despite being stupid) isn't too far off in my case
You are NOT the target audience for the iPad/iPhone/iPod.
You have NEVER been the target audience for the iPad/iPhone/iPod.
You will NEVER be the target audience for the iPad/iPhone/iPod.
You are NOT the target audience for iTunes.
You have NEVER been the target audience for the iTunes.
You will NEVER be the target audience for the iTunes.
The target audience for the iPad/iPhones/iPod and iTunes does not care a fat rat's ass for YOUR perceived "limitations" and "restrictions" that Apple imposes.
The target audience only wants something that works when it's turned on. The target audience wants a simple seamless one click music buying experience that buys the file and places that file in the correct spot inside iTunes.
Please, feel free to vent and complain and moan and piss and bitch all you want about Apple and its products.
The people that buy Apple products like Apple products. They don't care what you think, nor does what you think affect how THEY think of Apple products.
You are, essentially, pissing into the wind.
Thank you for your kind attention!
Guaranteed! This comment 100% Anthrax free!
You're thinking of android. Apple, unlike Google has never exercised the ability to remove installed malware from user's phones.
FTFY
Reply to That ||
Well the "unwashed masses" are generally products of the system set up by the elites, so if the elites don't like the results, why did they set up a system to produce people like this?
You act as though there's some vast conspiracy to dumb people down. There isn't. It's a bunch of individuals (or corporations) trying to make as much money as possible that's created the system, and by extension the products of said system.
Become? My friend you describe the human condition and it goes a lot higher up the social ladder than you would care to believe. When has man not cared for mindless entertainment over the persuit of knowledge. What generation has not described the youth as rebellious, crass and rude? When have people chosen to think for themselves instead of eating up propaganda.
Don't fool yourself, this is what people are. Sure there are those who break this mold in one way or another (often in a rather negative way) but what you describe is the human condition. It is not limited to one country or one time period.
"In America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women..." -H. Simpson
This isn't some Mac-basher's blog post, it's an article in Wired that cites a real study. And it's relevant to techies (Wired certainly thought so too).
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
"selfish elites." = Douche-bag
That anyone is dividing the population into something as stupid as people with or without ipads is enough proof that apple users are elitist selfish bastards.
WTF am I doing replying to an AC at 5 A.M on a Friday night?
Dude. Do you realize how many Ordinary Americans are also science/math nerds in college? Most elites get where they are through their families money and connections, so they didnt earn shit. Finance and business are two of the EASIEST disciplines. Getting an MBA is like getting a degree in common sense, plus a little math they should have known in high school thrown in.
That brings me to an interesting point, / . is just "the ramblings of socially-inept, technology-literate news-mongers".
What is the difference between this nonsense and the nonsense that tyrants spout? We should despise people because they aren't as strong as us or different from us? Because that's what you're saying.
You come off like you're better than "them" but you're not.
Seriously, explain logically how you are better than them and why we should despise them. It's illogical and reeks of idiocy itself.
FIrst, the methods used in polling are not clearly specified. It is very easy to ask leading questions and very easy to interpret in a skewed manner. I am more saddened by the need to polarize responses as exhibited by this piece (all under the gentle guise of consumer reporting, what could be more innocent, innocuous?) - apparently these studies also show there is no longer a spectrum of behavior. That alone should raise a few geek AND elite eyebrows. In sum, for troll bait like this, it should be served under a bridge...
Yes, the people you mention are the elites of society and they created a system that dumbs people down, I never said or implied that there was some sort of conspiracy, the dumbing down of society(esp. by republicans) is happening out in the open. It's quite easy to see and sometimes the elites responsible for it are sometimes quite proud of what they have done.
Monstar L
Fanboys are pretentious pricks? I am shocked.
Reply to That ||
I don't understand how someone interested in Finance and Business can be considered "highly educated". I met my fair share of MBA's and Finance majors in college. Finance majors are usually quite a bit more educated than MBA's, but they pale in comparison to any math or science major's education. An MBA is literally a joke degree designed for pretentious people or people that think they deserve 60000+ a year without much effort. They are a dime a dozen simply because they are basically a degree in common sense.
That brings me to an interesting point, / . is just "the ramblings of socially-inept, technology-literate news-mongers".
I'm thinking they're doing the iPad critics a disfavor here. I'm a nay-sayer as well, but not because I don't own one. They make it sound like critics are jealous (caused by statements like the iPad is sexy, critics are not). It's also not like I don't buy an iPad because of an identity statement. I simply stack up the costs against the benefits the device will offer me and based on my findings I've concluded that the device is not for me. A device like the ExoPC is much more to my liking, albeit still a bit expensive (in an absolute amount of money way).
Pollsters who use MySpace as a cross section of the public and then make generalities about their results tend to be useless as statisticians. Of course, I could be wrong but I only sampled articles in Slashdot...
The thing that really strikes me these days is the hatred for ordinary Americans by the elites.
I've heard this sort of claim before and I never really got the classification system here. Who are the "elites" exactly? Is it based on money? Because a lot of the people railing against the "elites" have more money than the "elites" they rail against. Is it based on self-perception? The big city professional may look down on the Bible belt housewife as unsophisticated, tacky, and ignorant, but the Bible belt housewife may look down on the big city professional as immoral, degenerate, effeminate, and communist. Does that make the housewife an "elite"?
Only a poor, and vapid waste of flesh would dare say that of us, the higher classes!
Insert unicode punctuation: U+2E2E
Ordinary Americans have allowed themselves to become loathsome.
Acutally, American people haven't changed. They're the same as ever. It's the vicious hatred like yours that has revealed itself in public in the last 10 years.
It's natural to despise such people.
Yeah, they used to say the same things about the Cherokee, the Negroes, the Tibetans, etc etc. But I'm sure the hate is OK in your case.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
Twenty years ago, would a similar study have said the same about people who have home computers? Why does anyone need them except to play games? They can't do any real work, right?
Ten years ago presumably the same could have been said about cell phones; using a payphone too good for you?
Like the SUV driving "soccer mom" who is concerned about the environment and recycles her husband's beer cans but drives a vehicle that gets 7 mpg.
Boutique lifestyles of the nouveau riche. Wealth coming out of their eyeballs but morally bankrupt.
The 60's generation, "meet the new boss, same as the old boss".
Tisha Hayes
Well, my mother is basically computer-illiterate. And somehow she managed to be quite content with her phone (Windows Mobile 2003SE) for five years, only needing a battery replacement twice during that time.
"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
I'm sorry, but the tone of conversations on Slashdot hasn't quite gotten insulting enough towards us Apple fans yet - could you please dial up the trolling a bit more. Perhaps a story that simply says "Fuck you Apple Fanboys" would suffice. I'm sure that one's coming soon enough, at the rate things are going.
Or, in other words, imagine how many heads would explode if a similar troll fluff piece was posted insulting Android users.
Seriously, this place is going to hell lately.
First of all, the iPad is not that expensive, so you don't have to be a well paid, highly educated business person to buy one. Second, we bought an iPad for mom, who is 60, and works as a caretaker. Hardly a 'selfish elite'. She uses it to view pics & vids of all her grandkids, and gets email and surfs the 'net (as much as she knows how). It's perfect cause the size is right, the on-screen elements are large enough for her to see, and she can figure out how to use it (she's technology illiterate).
That there isn't a way to moderate an entire post as flamebait.
I still cannot find the droids I am looking for...
I bought mine because I wanted a really light-weight device with a screen bigger than an iPhone (I'm getting old, can't read the fine print) that I could take places and browse, listen to music (yes, I figured out the workaround so I'm not paying Apple a fortune and it's legal) or if I'm really stuck, watch a movie. I've had good luck with Apple products before (my 1984 Mac still works as a MIDI sequencer) and nothing else on the market fit the bill. The act of putting me into the group "selfish elites" because they reached the same conclusion for the same (or other) reasons, is simply a logical fallacy - Undivided Middle. You cannot make the leap from "iPad owner" to "this person must be a 'selfish elite'" without tripping over it. It's the same logic as racism.
I have an iPad. I am not among the elite. I live well within my means and I am by far not sophisticated. I'm a techno-junky in that I love technology and I love what the iPad represents and what I can and will potentially be able to do with it. I've done a lot of janky things with mine already and I consider it money well spent (though I should have saved the $100 and gotten the 16GB one instead of the 32GB).
And no, I'm not the most "altruistic" person out there, I value what I have and what I've done to get where I am. Not all of us have disposable incomes to be donating half (or more) of our income to charity. This is trollish behavior by someone that probably couldn't justify to his wife the purchase of an iPad. So he's gotta try to make me feel guilty for having mine.
What other demographic would pay $600USD for an over-sized iPhone that can't make calls?
Seriously. You can purchase much more powerful & useful devices that have a similar footprint for hundreds of $ less. While also freeing you from Apple's arbitrary application approval. The massive sales numbers of the iPad is truly baffling.
As evidenced by the lack of misspelled words in his post. And the fact that he didn't use any words without knowing their proper definition, like "socialist" or "secular".
"I guess the moral of the story is, don't paint your airship with rocket fuel." -- Addison Bain
A bit more on-topic: The iPad was from the guys that brought us the Apple III and Lisa...
A Shadeless room is a brighter room.
Elitist Apple freaks on one hand, elitist Apple haters on the other?
I don't think they surveyed to see what people thought iPad owners were like, but I do think they asked people a few questions about their personality, what they thought about the iPad, and if they owned an iPad. If they just asked what people thought about iPad owners, they wouldn't know that most "Independant Geeks" are critical of, and don't own, the iPad.
Unfortunately, it's impossible for us to know much about the validity of the study as they didn't adequate cover its methodology.
Sent from my iPhone 5
So you are already an asshole.
"All great wisdom is contained in .signature files"
You know it feels to me, that as a minority (racial) some people at Slashdot seems enjoy inciting anti-apple people using the kinds of hate speech that other people once (and still occasionally is) used to describe us minorities. Back then there were plenty of "studies" that purported to show how various minorities were inferior in intelligence, moral character, physical attributes, etc. I guess in Slashdot's case the key phrases would be "selfish", "elite" and previously "fanbois", "Stockholm syndrome sufferers", etc.
If the only purpose of journalism is to now provoke controversy (and worse) for the sake of ad revenue, then my respect for the profession has vanished. (No, I don't consider Glenn Beck and Limbaugh journalists). While Slashdot may not aspire to "only print all the (tech) news that's fit to print", it does claim to publish "stuff that matters". I fail to see how this posting reaches even that vague standard.
And yes, this was sent from my iPad. (also, as a matter of anecdotal record, I live in Vietnam and this weekend I was at a volunteer site where they're building a school for the children of extremely poor parents. Many of the the parents (and kids!) work in brick making factories and have severe respiratory ailments from the dust. I also just gave my maid enough money to pay for the medical costs of her husband who appears to have had a stroke. Their dumbshit son lost a lot of money betting on the world cup thus wiping out their family's meager savings.)
don't own the iPad, you insensitive clod!
And I still allow them to be my friends.
No offence, but the "elite" in American terms just seems to mean people with more money. The fact that you mummy and daddy could pay for you to go to a good university and get a well paid job does not make you a fucking philosopher king.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
One man's "altruist" is another man's "idiot who foolishly helps undeserving people at his own expense."
Who does the greater good in society--the man who never has anything, and who always gives his money and possessions away to be wasted by others, or the man who makes a fortune for himself and sets up (or invests in) companies that employ thousands?
They think religion is science, they crave circuses instead of information, they are lazy, and they let their pandering media pundits of choice think for them.
I take it then that you interviewed every American yourself to determine their opinions on science and religion, studied their work ethic empirically, and discerned their will to vet the information they consume, rather than get a general impression of what "Americans" are like through the media, huh? Oh, kudos to you sir. Kudos.
For conscience is the wound, and there's naught to staunch it
So that makes me an early adopter techno-luddite?
To a Lisp hacker, XML is S-expressions in drag.
Comeplete and utter horseshit aimed at whipping the Apple fanbois and tech media into a frothing frenzy.
My 77-year old dad owns one. It's the first and only computing device he's ever owned. I helped him get one because it was dead easy to use and maintain for someone whose main interests are web browsing, email and music consumption.
But I hate Apple products!
I have an iPad and am offended by being called a selfish elite!
Now everyone please comment at least 10' away from me, lest you infect my post with your plebeian diseases.
So like the set of the Truman Show?
Just three millions arrogant selfish elitists. The remaining 7.0 billion people can safely improve mankind, now that the elitists are distracted.
It's called the Mac Mini. ;-)
"You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline." - Frank Zappa
>Well the "unwashed masses" are generally products of the system set up by the elites, so if the elites don't like the results, why did they set up a system to produce people like this?
The unwashed masses are that way because they want to be. They are products of their own laziness. I came from a family that fits this description (unwashed masses). All 3 of us (my brothers and I) worked our asses off in school (while most of our friends were getting hooked on heroin), took it on the chin with student loans, and made something of ourselves. We got out of that demographic with hard work.
I have 0 respect for people that claim fate and their economic station are beyond their control. 99% of them made the decisions that brought them to where they are and they deserve where they are. Does that make me elitist? If it does, then I accept the badge with pride.
I am fucking tired of hearing about how "the system" victimizes people.
You make your own reality in this county. We don't need more programs. We need people to take advantage of the ones we've got. If they don't it's on them. People should fucking own it and do something about it if they don't like where they are, instead of playing the victim game. It's bullshit and doesn't help you at all.
People like you perpetuate the liberal victim mentality bullshit. You own your fate and there is no such thing as luck. If you don't like your place, fix the problem. Free your mind and your ass will follow. I'm living proof.
Don't kid yourself. It's the size of the regexp AND how you use it that counts.
Officers wouldn't be able to write reports since our and most report writing / case tracking systems for law enforcement require at least Java, ...they insist on going through their company for any sort of new application installation
This is not correct, in two ways.
First of all, you would not have to go through the app store for customized apps. If you have under a hundred devices you can simply do Ad-Hoc deployments to everyone. If you have more than 500 employees (not devices) then you can get an Enterprise development license which lets you distribute your own applications to any number of devices - they never go through the app store or the review process.
Secondly - you may still be able to use the Java reports thanks to the Java to Obj-C cross compiler. Since you are deploying to your own devices the App Store rules around using other languages are irrelevant. I'd probably look to convert the front end of those using some simple dev environment like PhoneGap though.
There are a number of firms around the country that can help you get set up with enterprise licenses and even with the report thing if you want. Otterbox already has a good strong case as well, so you wouldn't even have to spend the $900 you quoted (it would be more like $700).
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The irony is that the Cocoa devices are based on the idea that from a owner's point of view, "They[Apple] know what's best," rather than "I know what's best." You would think selfish elites would be, well, too selfish to surrender their egos and walk through a corral like cattle, and would go for something that maximizes decision-making and self-determination instead. The iPad is all about submission, not selfishness. Selfish Elites, of all people, are the ones who are most likely to give up on themselves and get down on their bellies before the pack leader?!
We all see the slack-jawed staring-eyed zombie horde out there and learn to accept its robotic obedience to some arbitrary undeserved authority. It's just one of those sad facts of life, and you either learn to live with it or you go crazy. Fair enough. But we never call the zombies elite! That the process happens: Yes. That the process is an ideal to strive for? FUCK NO! What a weird concept. Yet maybe selfish-elite vs submission are orthogonal concepts rather than opposites. What if it's true?
Is the lesson here that servitude, rather than the burden of power, is the ultimate luxury which we all want? Is the happiness of a humble slave the goal which we all seek, and upon achieving it, we become elite? If that's true, then it's selfish to become so selfless, so at least that part starts to make sense. It's so .. Zen.
I could totally go off on a rant about how people vote in politics ("government, please solve the problem because we the people are too overwhelmed") to support that idea, but it's just too depressing.
Anyway, my guess is that the survey is just totally wrong, and they'll find that the iPad owners are just what you expect. Nevertheless, the 'iPad owners are selfish elite' idea is a fun one to think about, if only to mock with self-indulgent cynicism.
"Believe me!" -- Donald Trump
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"Masterminds, Innovators, Villians, Virgins" The perfect geek hang-out.
The way I see it the iPad/Phone/Apple in general is like a very large, beautiful prison cell.
Is it really a cell when anyone who cares to go outside can leave at any time?
Lots of people basically lock themselves into home and work and never travel. This is no less a cell, yet it's what they prefer to do. Are they so wrong to want a simpler isolated life if they are happy living it?
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Says study.
it's under construction
I'm curious. What are those things that you coudn't do before?
My wife cannot travel with a laptop. It's too bulky and heavy for her. She also sees no need for a smartphone and the expense of it, she has a dirt cheap pay as you go phone.
Recently she went via airplane to visit family. I sent her out with an iPad, mostly to entertain her during the flights.
Well it turned out that American Airlines had other plans for her that did not including reaching her destination. So through the iPad she was able to easily look up alternative flights while waiting in line for agents. Later that night her phone ran dead (because she had not brought the charger thinking she would not be on the phone for hours) and she was able to download Skype onto the iPad and call me using that to explain where she ended up.
Basically it gave someone without a laptop all the power a laptop could offer... although a netbook might have worked for that the battery I don't think would have lasted the many hours she was using it, and of course it would be pretty awkward to use a netbook standing in line.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
People can have kind words and yet do nothing because they barely have the means to help themselves. In other cases, these "have nots" just have different priorities and spend their money on their vehicles instead leaving very little for anything else.
It could be that people who are well off simply don't talk about being altruistic and kind but rather put their will into action by helping others either through volunteering or donations. Not everyone feels the need to list off all of the good that they do because they have no interest in seeking the praise or approval of men.
You can answer a study to appear altruistic and kind and yet being either unable or unwilling to help others.
Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.
I'm in-between. The categories aren't strictly defined.
I'm not powerful, but I make my living from knowingly serving the system. I support the military-industrial complex which is the fountain from which all blessings flow.
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
Releasing software as open source can be altruistic and kind but it can also be means to stroke one's own ego. If you pick the GPL for example, your primary concern is not to help others but rather to further your project by ensuring that anyone else working on the code has to contribute back to your project thereby improving on the original work. You can then then release again and collect fame and glory.
That's not to say that altruism cannot be one of the motivations behind the project but picking the GPL does tend to place the emphasis on the "work" rather than a notion of "giving" back to the community without any expected reward.
If this study equates being a "fan" of variants like Android as being altruistic then it is seriously flawed. Fans rarely contribute anything. They like linux because it is "free" which means that Android phones are likely to be cheaper. That is the opposite of altruism.
Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.
If you look at the actual survey, in particular the Sin Graph, you get quite a different picture.
For you see, iPad owners have much higher quotients of Lust, much lower quotients of Greed (than non-iPad owners), and iPad owners are incredibly less lazy than non-iPad owners.
How can you be a "selfish elitist" if you aren't greedy compared to the people that don't have an iPad?
So we can see that iPad owners have days filled with supermodels and apparently giving to charity.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The elites don't necessarily shape the masses. One need not breed the horse to ride it.
The masses have always been populist since the country was founded. The masses in a democracy elect their legislators, and the system they shape by action and inaction is of their choosing. The masses do not tolerate anything that doesn't affirm their cherished identity, and are vicious when riled. The elites didn't make them that way, they are that way be relentless choice.
The proles are grumpy ATM, but were never noble.
"The religious right was able to seize upon this unease and started pushing people into finding meaning in their life by becoming religious zealots."
That's how ALL religion works. The Religious Right isn't new, and is just a normal manifestation of American superstitionism. The KKK burned the Croix de Feu to bring light (it was NOT a desecration), and they were mainstream not so long ago.
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
Just bought a Cowon J3 despite the fact that the iPod Touch is the more logical buy. But I like the mentality behind the Cowon while I despise the iEverything with a passion.
Funny thing is, that the other side is always the one most in the wrong... wonder why that is.
Linux geeks: Apple users are heartless selfish bastards.
Apple snobs: Linux users live in their mothers basement and never ever talked to a girl... which is a blatent lie, how do you think we got our mother to let us live in the basement. We ASKED her, by TALKING to HER! So there!
On a serious note, of course I have had intimate contact with women. Knee to the groin counts, doesn't it? Some people pay extra for that :P
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
"you found it unpleasant"??? $700 unpleasant? Look, fair enough, you like the iPhone. But that's not really a reason why it's so great, is it. It's only a reason why you have one and doesn't apply to someone else. You even admit you had browsing before. But earlier, web pages were written for Palmtop devices and were limited, often because they still dealt with IE6.
There's more newer web pages which deal with low real estate much better.
So maybe the change isn't "you have it better on the iPhone" but "people have been making better websites for mobile phones".
It's always amusing reading the Apple hostile comments. Poor things. It's so not about Apple you know. Seek therapy. Consider decaf. Or maturity.
When someone important to you, including yourself, becomes deathly sick or injured, who are you going to choose between a mediocre doctor and an elite doctor?
By saying that the "elite" are selfish and greedy, one ignores the fact that the "elite" are those that are the best at what they do and arbitrarily assigns a values that generally may not be true. It is pandering to the lowest common denominator.
There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
There was a hipster in that doc that refused to date men who owned a PC
Well if they were anything like the Apple Haters on Slashdot, can you blame her for wanting to date men who would not ridicule her simply because of her choice of computer?
I wouldn't use that criteria for dating but then I don't think there are many (any?) women who are die-hard Apple Haters.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
One is a retired Dentist (ran his own practice for a number of years before selling it to a family member), another is a doctor at a local hospital and the other runs his own business - a mortuary of all things.
I ordered an iPad for my not so geek wife and daughters :), so that makes me one of the exceptions to this "rule".
I'm positive, don't belive me look at my karma
I'm not interested in "not being despised".
I'm observing that we live among many people who give their accomplished masters every reason to loathe them. They FAIL TO INSPIRE MERCY, so they do not receive it.
"We should despise people because they aren't as strong as us or different from us? "
No, what I said referred to the specific differences that make them an irritating superstitionist mob who can only be dealt with by manipulation because they bitterly resent science and logic. How is that not clear?
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
This guy's name is Rus Emerick, and he used to be my friend, until he
bought an iPad
Oh. Sorry.
Sent from my iPad
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
You confuse race with culture. They are not the same.
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
proud to be selfish
proud to be elite
proud to use an iPad
They think religion is science
I think I'd almost prefer that over people who decide science is a religion to follow without question. Since the core of science has always been the questioning...
At least it's obvious where the religious people are coming from. The Science As Religion people seem rational at first until you start asking questions, then WHAM.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
There's a point though: consider the rich kids. How hard do they have to work to get out of the gutter?
Not at all.
They get to live in expensive areas (so lots of money for schools), so they have a better education available.
They will get to Harvard or Princeton because their parents will pay for an ivy-league education.
In extreme cases (e.g. Paris Hilton), they don't have to do anything, having enough money means you can't spend it as fast as it comes in.
So how hard to the rich kids have to work?
They have to work hard to DROP to a lower class. They can generally coast.
If people who "tend to be wealthy, sophisticated, highly educated and disproportionately interested in business and finance," who "scored terribly in the areas of altruism and kindness." Are defined as "selfish elites", what does that make people who are:
wealthy, highly educated and disproportionately interested in information and technology, who score terribly in areas of altruism and kindness?
Slashdoters?
If find it ironic how a description that describes iPad users is so very close to a description that describes many of the people on these forums. Of course the definition of wealthy may be in question, at the base level if it's greater than average income, it fits so many of us.
Let's get away from bashing people (iPad owners) and back to the reason I love to lurk Slashdot, which is good intellectual (as unbiased as possible) discussion on nerdy topics that I otherwise can't share with my colleagues. (Who possibly categorize me as a selfish elite.) /sigh
How do you accurately measure somebody's altruism? Some experts say that such a characteristic does not actually exist. How do you accurately measure somebody's selfishness, or elitism?
If you test people on their opinions of themselves, would those opinions typically match the opinions that other people hold of the tested people?
If somebody was truly humble, would that person call his/her self "humble?"
Does Bill Gates consider himself to be a rotten bastard? Is Bill Gates a rotten bastard? I mean, can such a characteristic be objectively decided by anybody, much less the person his/her self?
They also used to be all about interoperability
They still are. Have you not heard of Webkit and HTML 5? Apple is strong supporters of both.
The hardware they use uses USB, and Bluetooth to connect external devices. They use standard hard drives now in systems, standard PC ports in desktop systems.
The iPhone can receive and open Word/Excel docs just fine. They sell music online that any device that supports AAC can play (like the Zune). They would sell video the same way but we all know content producers will not let that happen - but you can put video on from other sources just fine. You do not HAVE to buy video from iTunes in order to use it.
Only in one aspect are they not about interoperability - compiled binaries for the iPhone. But why would those be interoperable? It's not like I can get a universal binary that runs both on Windows and the Mac. Different platforms have an inherent lack of interoperability unless you use some platform like HTML5 that is inherently designed for interoperability.
You might not like them because of how they are closed in some aspects, but that is a different matter than interoperability.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I'm curious how they measured those. I wouldn't be surprised to find political assumptions in the questions, like "supports progressive taxation" being equated with altruism. Hah.
A lot of the discussion is justification for ownership on the grounds of utility, style, and so forth.
Fine.
But i still wonder: Does ownership of this product (or any other, really) help one develop empathy for those for whom such justifications are not fitting?
Much twistings heard tell to escape the uncomfortabe "elite" monicker; what of the equally important "selfish" portion?
Face it: The Buddha was elite, too.
Your applications aren't free. No money changes hands. However, they cannot be downloaded without sharing your personal information with one corporation. Furthermore, any application is subject to deletion by one corporation at any time. I'd consider a free application to be software that I can modify, share or just fucking retain without the involvement of any third parties.
Regarding your use of data formats, why are you making life harder for everyone else? An "e" book would have to have a *huge* number of features over a plain text file to justify usage. I wouldn't want to find myself in a situation where information was inside an "e" book and I didn't have the right platform or software to access it. Your use of a PDF reader that allows a large number of bookmarks is an attitude which ranges between inane, idiotic and selfish.
Your choice of multimedia formats and codecs is an extension of your selfishness.
So I bought this hammer, and I can't use it to do anything other than hit things, or whack holes into things! I can't saw things in half with it or unscrew things or bake cookies with it! Seriously Apple, you've limited my hammer purchase to just be a hammer!
Its a tool, why are you complaining that this tool doesn't do all that you want it to, just buy another tool to do what you want.
It's just the good ol' US-THEM divide... you can draw the lines/categories any way you like. WE always loath THEM, because they are different/misguided/dangerous. Welcome to humanity. :(
The way I see it the iPad/Phone/Apple in general is like a very large, beautiful prison cell. Sure, WE might walk far enough to reach the walls and be unhappy about it, but to the average consumer (who doesn't walk far and never reaches the walls), it feels like beautiful freedom. It's like the restrictions don't exists.
I have the same problem with my refrigerator. To the average consumer it probably would seem like a great refrigerator but because I wanted to put 200 lbs of meat on one shelf it cracked. It will also only hold a large pizza box and not the extra extra large death in a box i like to get. How unfairly limiting.
Seriously, there are a few limitations to the iDevices but only if you are to lazy or stupid to either jailbreak the device or become a developer. The only real restraint is that you can't install your crap on other people's iDevices unless they are also willing to throw safety to the wind.
This study is stupid. The iPad is still new so most of the people who have one are early adopters. Early adopters tend to be people with the money to blow on new gadgets. Practically everyone I know has an iPod of some kind and many have iPod Touches or iPhones. I was an early adopter of both but now they are common. Everyone that has seen my iPad wants one. At a recent family event (death) a couple dozen kids were waiting around for days at a time. We had two iPads there and they worked wonders keeping those kids entertained and then adults appreciated being able to check their e-mail. At the store people come up and ask to look at the iPad and every single person has wanted one.
I am very altruistic and I am certainly not rich. I'm only an early adopter because I'm a geek and have learned that first gen Apple products are non-suck enough to be worth spending money on. Now if I could just pry my iPad out of my two year olds hands now and then. I guess I'll have to buy myself one too.
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
Maybe an average family cannot, but a poor AND dishonest one can for sure lift 6 of them from a delivery truck 8)
(disclaimer : SarcMarc / Yes, it is a form of Humor, albeit an almost deceised one / Yes, not all poor families are poor / Oh, Just shut up, not my fault if you have no sense of humor. Choose the one applying to your specific condition 8p)
It takes 40+ muscles to frown, but only four to extend your arm and bitchslap the motherfucker
'altruism and kindless' F'that! I need to save and pay off my iPhone4g and upgrade my 2 year old iMac.
btw, its talking as if 'independent geeks' are all world renowned philanthropist. They all want an iPad and but either are ignorant, wife hasn't approved, saving up for it, or waiting for delivery. Selfishyness maybe pungent but its an acquired taste and highly addictive, like all my Apple toys.
You were one of those kids who couldn't come up with witty responses, so you resorted to "I know you are, but what am I?" retorts, weren't you?
Ordinary Jews have allowed themselves to become loathsome. They think religion is science, they crave circuses instead of information, they are lazy, and they let their pandering media pundits of choice think for them.
It's natural to despise such people. They cannot be changed, improved, or made noble, but they can be milked.
I figured I would go ahead and invoke Godwin's Law. Your "insightful" fascists diatribe, which I fixed for clarity, seemed an appropriate place to start.
6 iPads is about $3000.
A nice HDTV-centered home theater can easily cost as much.
Both are for "consumption"; one is portable.
Some of us, having such disposable income, buy premium latest-model high-def big-screen surround-sound blu-ray systems for family entertainment.
Some of us, having same income but different habits/interests, buy convenient devices so each can consume whatever media they want where/whenever they want.
Same price, similar ends, different choices.
You spend your money your way, I'll spend mine my way. Neither is evil based only on size/quantity of screens.
(FWIW, my home TV is a 15-year-old 27" CRT; we've spent the entertainment money on iPad, MacBook, Nook, and other portable devices instead of the lusted-after but not-purchased 55" HDTV.)
Can we get a "-1 Wrong" moderation option?
Good point. Often giving someone a label like "elite snob" is just another way to look down your nose at them. It's especially funny when you find yourself being called a "northeast liberal elite" by a highly educated and wealthy accountant from Long Island.
And according to another study, Blackberry owners are 'big stoopid doo doo heads', while the same study finds that Android users are smooth, cool and 230% more likely to have sex with more than one partner a week.
You just got troll'd!
I haven't seen any iPad users mention anything at all about altruism and kindness in their attempts to refute the "selfish elites" tag.
Full plate and packing steel! -Minsc
Even knowing there are "walls around the garden", I don't exactly feel restricted by this device. If anything, I feel somewhat liberated by it.
All of this "walled garden" kvetching forgets that the entry gate is open and the mansion is next door.
A walled garden serves its purpose, for what it is, as it is. Likewise, the iPad serves its purpose, for what it is, as it is.
If you want the services rendered by a mansion, go there. Likewise, the multi-core multi-drive multi-monitor cycle-crunching high-bandwidth big-screen monster machine is also available.
Buy and use what tools you need.
It's a free country; you're not limited to just one.
Can we get a "-1 Wrong" moderation option?
More stereotypes.
It's plenty clear. It's plenty stupid too. Thank God you're not in charge.
So - let me get this straight - it's OK to hate? As long as it's cultural? I just wanted to make sure, because I had heard that hate was unacceptable under any circumstances. But maybe that was just my P.C. upbringing talking.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
Could she not do all of these things on a smart phone?
Absolutely she could. But as I noted, she does not want (or even really need) a smartphone. She doesn't want the monthly bill or even the upfront fee - currently we pay just $15 every three months for service!
Smartphones are great if you need data access all the time (I have an iPhone). Things like the iPad are nice for more infrequent data needs, plus they provide other value above a smart phone (much nicer for video when traveling).
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
You'd be wrong. What can you milk a nigger for?
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I don't own any fruity products, but I think I made a HUGE mistake.
I need to maintain my image, I am going to buy 2 iPads and glue them back to back, just to be twice as much of a selfish elitist.
You can't handle the truth.
I'm somewhat amused by the article - clearly those folks are trying to cash in on the Ipad's popularity to sell their news nonsense. It's likely to backfire on them; calling the 3 million plus Ipad owners snobbish or elite is neither the truth nor a good idea - they're just insulting a large number of their potential readers.
I've got one; I've had it for a few months now and it's very, very useful. For many of the things that I would have previously needed to boot up a computer and wait for Windows to load - now I can just click the button, tap on an icon, and be looking at the information I wanted.
This reminds me of the days when the idea of a "personal computer" was new. I owned one and everyone wanted to know what it was good for. Years later, nearly everyone knows what they're good for and uses one daily. Now it's the Ipad's turn for those "what's it good for?" questions. As with the PC, what it's good for depends on what you want it to do - and like the PC, it will enable a new realm of applications and functions that can't be clearly described in these early days.
We've had the long string of "it's a flop, nobody needs this" stories and now that over 3.5 million of them have sold they can't keep beating that drum. So now let's insult the people that own them - that'll do that "news" source a lot of "good". Those who think the Ipad should be a miniature PC are still wrong - but those who take it as it is soon discover that there's another world that they didn't expect.
The North American country club set banned the Iroquis' originators of the sport from playing in what is essentially the Iroquis' own religion
Then they play the sport at posh private academies, colleges and universities where they can rape the help if so inclined, and buy off the bosses of local prosecutors with buckets of money.
It comes down to the affirmation of self. It is the justification of existence. It is the rationalization of an otherwise meager, minute, insignificant, uninteresting existence. Because they believe themselves to be unique in some way, their existence has some meaning and purpose. Only, by being "rebellious" they are merely being another member of the pack that is not the member of the pack from which they originally started.
This problem doesn't plague those who already have another means to affirm oneself. But human beings are delusional regardless of the object of their delusion, be it the self or the other. That is truly the human condition. That is the curse and gift of self-awareness.
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
Access to porn on the iPad is unlimited. If you're wifi connected, you have the whole Internet, which is more porn than you can possibly consume. For free. If you're 3G connected, you're a sucker. :)
You can also store movies and stills and stories on the iPad, and they can be as porn-y as you can imagine. Or more so.
All Jobs has done is prevent apps that are themselves porn-y, in his estimation, from getting into the app store. This is such a minor restriction -- and has so little to do with actually restricting you from accessing porn -- that it is very hard to *honestly* consider it a limitation, unless you are a developer making a porn app.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
Absolutely hilarious. My post, an honest opinion, gets marked down as Troll while the parent posts, obvious trolls themselves, are modded up.
You don't have to mod everything down just because you disagree with it, moderators. Sometimes you should just post a reply instead.
than about the problematic iPad (see also class action lawsuit) itself, i.e. who Apple thinks its customers are.
A tablet is just a tool. Who will want it depends on what they perceive they can do with it.
I've got one. It's an Android-based, and I bought it direct from a Chinese vendor (you'll probably be able to get it retail by Xmas season) because I need it as a development platform for some greentech-oriented controller applications. I paid $133 for it including shipping. I hardly consider myself a member of a selfish elite any more than I consider myself an Apple customer. My tablet has an adaptor for a USB port and wired ethernet... two things you can't plug an iPad into.
Tech Public Policy stuff
If
wealthy, sophisticated, (and) highly educated
is equal to selfish elite, then sign me up?
flamebait, move along people
LOL more intelligent! The group that is swayed by propaganda and billion dollar advertising. Yeah there the smarter ones.. At one time I am sure there were quite smart but as with all people the longer out of school or learning the dumber they become and more i-sheep like..
Only if you use bad hacks that are unecessary on more open systems and actually make the iPhone MORE DIFFICULT to deal with than open systems.
But I was talking about opening and viewing Word/Excel files. The iPhone/iPad reads those as-is - no hacks required.
Opening strange file types.
With the iPad and iOS3.2 SDK support for applications to declare support for file types was added. No hacking there either, it's all official.
I'll agree that the printing solutions currently require a third party app, but that's still not a hack and I generally do not print much from a mobile device. It is however annoying so I'll grant you that aspect is still pretty weak.
If you can't acknowledge these as the bad hacks that they are then you've certainly lost any perspective.
If you can't do basic research on what the thing you are critiquing supports, you end up looking rather foolish.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
From the article..
96 percent those most likely to criticize the iPad, on the other hand, don't even own one, although as geeks, they were slightly more likely to do so than the average population
The "geeks" analyzed the device to see if it met their needs and decided one way or the other if they should buy it or not. Nothing wrong with that. I doubt the average non geek buyer did any comparison or a detailed what about this or that, they just bought it.
I know how the Apple/Anti Apple arguments typically start.
Those that did not do much research talk about how great the device is and how innovative a specific feature is. Those features may be great and awesome, that is not the point yet. The geeks respond with a comparable product that does something similar or point out the shortcomings of that that feature. An example being facetime. To a new iPhone user, that is a great feature and cool. The geek points out that it only works on wi-fi, it has to be another facetime user using an iPhone and $someotherphone$ has had that feature for $sometimeperiod$ and it works over the cell signal and they can connect to others using a computer or a different device as well. The Apple user responds back with some feeling (or something not really measurable) how Apple does it better, geek responds with how and have you used it on $someotherphone$... It goes on from there.
If you look and read any of these Apple/antiApple threads on /., 99% of them start and continue on in that exact manner. Geeks need actual concrete numbers, figures, examples and comparisons from someone they actually think compared something with a run down of the shortcomings and the strengths. Non geeks (in terms of what the article was referring to) tend to use and define something more of overall feelings, styles, generalizations, expression, overall experience etc.. Those two methods of comparing things to not directly translate across the geek/non geek divide. Both sides are confused as to what the hell the other side is trying to say.
...wealthy, sophisticated, highly educated and disproportionately interested in business and finance... Yes! They also own buisnesses that employ millions of people. Give them tax incentives like cutting the capitol gains tax, inheritance tax & stop all that shit abut taxing the rich so I can get a job & pay taxes too! Just don't ask to borrow their iPod...
Don't you think...? Or don't you?
SO true hahahahahaaaaa
Parsing the description of "iPad owners", I find myself at odds with the details of their conclusions :
I read that as evidence of a prolonged period as a successful thief or exploitative employer. There are counter examples, but they're a vanishingly small proportion.
Uh, huh - so they use the whole chicken instead of just one feather. Riiiight. "Perv" is what the denizens of my street would call them, punctuated by the impact of half-bricks on faces.
Compared to just which amoeba?
Nothing interesting to do with their lives, I almost feel sorry for them.
Still nothing better to do with their lives, but my feelings are receding from the area of mild sympathy.
Sound more like a bunch of miserable cunts to me. I wonder how many iFeminineHygieneProduct users have been mugged for their ego-boosters so far.
Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
And there is no point in the much hyped Nissan Leaf iAd for apple products.
In contrast, the green tech in Nissan Leaf has much more affinity with Android, Linux, sharing and Open Source culture...
why does Nissan insist in promoting iPhone?
Apple produces fashion electronics. People who indulge in fashion are narcissistic. Narcissists score low on measures of altruism. The sun rises in the east.
Lots of bashing for people who happen to like Apple's products. I have yet to find someone who can provide a rational description of a "Fanboy". Apple makes good products, computers made out of solid aluminum instead of cheap plastic, for instance. I am certainly not an elitest jerk. I have been in the computer business for over 25 years and have watched the manufacturing quality of PC's deteriorate over that time frame as almost every PC manufacturer has been forced to compete in a cut-throat, low-margin market. PC's just feel cheap and breakable to me. I'm not an Apple fanatic, but I do like their products, because they feel sturdy and they are easy to use (with the glass iPhone as an exception, it is extremely fragile). Anyway, I bought my wife an iPad, because it made sense, doing everything she needs at a fraction of the price of a decent laptop. And better yet, I never have to support it. It simply works, I get to come home and enjoy my evening instead of fixing yet another computer.