For me, it'll probably replace my iPod Touch if they release the smaller iPad. The iTouch is just a bit to small for browsing and reading but the iPad isn't pocket sized. I can carry a paperback book in my pocket so if it's similar in size it'll work for me. I have nothing against the iTouch, it's a wonderful device, but I don't know if I can justify having all three.
I'd also be interested in something iTouch sized that offered some sort of glasses, or maybe a clamshell case that flipped open to expose a second screen, as a way to have a bigger display. I'd hope any such features would be add-ons though and not part of the actual unit.
My biggest complaint about the iPhone/iTouch/iPad though is the buttons. They wear out long before the other parts. Lets get rid of the home button and replace it by making the front border (the black stuff) touch sensitive and allow different gestures to do different functions. Tap the center under the screen to 'press home', grip the left side and slide your finger alog the bottom to control volume, grip the right side and slide your finger along the bottom to control brightness, grip the upper left corner for the power button, and why not give it hot corners like Mac OS for showing open apps and Dashboard. I'd give a little buffer between the touch screen and touch border to make it less of a problem of accidentally going off the screen and would require two hand gestures where one is likely to be mis-recognized. Maybe have a physical off button or even just a nub (slightly protruding bump that is sensitive to a finger making electrical contact) for in case it gets really screwed and the touch controls aren't responding. If they could get rid of all the ports too and make it water resistant it'd be great. Let the thing charge through induction and communicate wirelessly. If you really must have physical ports think MagSafe and have them just stuck to the outside of the still water resistant case (in dimples maybe)?
Along with the possibility of a smaller iPad I expect there to be a re-imagining of the Apple TV soon. I wonder if the parts they are mentioning could be for something like that.
I think if their radio waves come into my yard they should pay me rent. We can work it out as trade - they give me access to the rest of their network and their radio waves can pass through my yard, home, and body.
Except 99% of people don't care and 99% of those that do are lazy so only a tiny fraction of people will use your Facebook killer and most of those are people who already knew how to run their own web server. Most of the benefit of Facebook type sites is that they provide a uniform centralized experience.
Obj-C isn't especially difficult to learn but it's definitely not like working in something like Python. I'd like to see Apple offer a bit cleaner language to code in especially if they could make it interlink with C/C++/Obj-C well. (Something like built-in Prolog would be awesome too.)
I've experimented with my own pet Pythonic language that translates to Obj-C and it seems to not have any major issues over hand written Obj-C so I'm not sure why Apple would have any reason not to offer such a language.
Still learning to program for iOS isn't any more work than learning to program for Android.
I'd like to see Google switch to using Parrot. Translate it's byte code into whatever they need instead of Java. The ONLY things I still use Java for are Android and GWT both of which are Google projects. Java was always an overhyped suck language.
I've been considering an Archos for months but they seem to rough for my needs still. I code for both iOS and Android but have yet to find an Android device I really like. I keep looking. My iPad is awesome.
Pressure sensitive pens exist for the iPad thanks to its Bluetooth. I don't know if it really makes a difference though other than being what you are used to. Could easily make your second hand a pressure indicator by moving your finger back and forth. I like being able to see what I'm drawing right under my finger/pen which is something that many drawing tablets don't do.
I write code and use Pages and Numbers on my iPad. It actually works pretty well. I do sometimes use a Bluetooth keyboard but it's mostly because they made the virtual keyboard keys to large instead of putting all the symbols in one place. Hopefully they'll offer an alternative eventually. I actually like the key size on the iTouch better because it's less distance to move your fingers.
Drawing and other interactions where touch works well are awesome of course. I would like a clip to slide on my Apple Bluetooth keyboard and my iPad to temporarily bind them into laptop shape for those occasions where a portable stand would be nice.
Except the ones in another city or state are owned by the same mega-corporation so essentially we're screwed without government oversight. There is a reason we have anti-trust laws - to bad we don't actually enforce them. It's ridiculous when citizens can't create their own solutions either on a private or government level because it could hurt some mega-corporations ability to rape the public.
Stop suppressing competition and then we'll talk about not letting the FCC keep mega-corporations under such stiff controls.
You're a fucking moron that didn't even read the post. It says " 'I don't trust my toddler with an iPad but this thing will be great for watching Gumby (don't ask) at home and Sesame Street in the car.'" right at the top of your page. Fucking AC people should be blocked from posting. Anyone without a karma bonus shouldn't be allowed to moderate either. Stupid wannabe geeks that can't do anything more than play World of Warcraft.
The SD slot makes it more likely to break. I've had iPods last years under heavy use. The cheapie ones last a couple months under similar use. I'd rather just not deal with it breaking.
Just using a tool doesn't mean anybody taught to use it well or know how it works. Most people are sheep and always will be. I do think there is a lot of value in having the education system do more to make people creators instead of just consumers. Teach how things work instead of assuming it's not important or to hard. Most people won't read a lot of books for leisure let alone write a book but we still teach reading and writing.
To some extent being intelligent and creative is just an inborn characteristic but to some extent it's a learned trait. Either way everyone will benefit from more effort to ingrain it in people. My educational experience was more the opposite - the school system trying to keep me from learning more than my peers or being creative.
My two year old is already smarter and more tech literate than many adults and even those of the 'net generation' that I know.
My two year old (26mo) daughter has claimed my iPad 3G 64GB, or "big pod" as she calls it, and I barely get to see it anymore. She has about four pages of just her apps and most of the space is full with kids shows I put on there for her. She'll carry it around with her everywhere and she leaves shows running in the background while she plays (Ni hao Kai-Lan and Max & Ruby are her favorite shows right now). She pretty much starts demanding it as soon as she wakes up in the morning and goes to sleep next to it at night. Her favorite app right now is Drawing Pad http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/drawing-pad/id358207332?mt=8. Many of the toddler games are excellent and affordable which is not what I've found with games for Wii or PC. Monkey Preschool Lunchbox http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/monkey-preschool-lunchbox/id328205875?mt=8 and Fish School http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fish-school-by-duck-duck-moose/id367567459?mt=8 are probably the best. The interactive books are also great and very affordable. Green Eggs and Ham http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/green-eggs-and-ham-dr-seuss/id380751745?mt=8 is $4. It costs more than that for the paper version that would get destroyed. My daughter knows exactly how to use the iPad as she was already an expert user of the iTouch which she's been using since she was six months old. Adults may complain that it's to heavy, or at least non-users do, but my two year old will lay on her back holding it over her head for a half hour at a time while she watches a show.
Like the iTouch, the iPad holds up very well to toddler use. I have a Zagg skin on it but no case. It handles being dropped and banged against stuff. It even handles being used as a drum. It is resistant to small spills and my daughter knows that if it gets wet to wipe it off and bring it to me right away. Sticky dirty fingers don't harm it at all and it's super easy to wipe off. The sound quality and volume are very good. Under constant use the battery lasts most of the day. She also has a kids portable dvd/tv player and the iPad is better in every way. The only issue I'm running into with it is that 64GB isn't enough space (although that is dozens of hours of video).
I have worried that she spends to much time playing with a computer and watching shows but she is very bright and imaginative and spends a lot of time playing pretend and blocks and such things. We also try to go to the park for a couple hours a day so she is getting exercise. From her shows and games she has picked up some sign language, Spanish, and Chinese. If anything I think the iPad is a great edutainment device and she is getting a leg up without having to go through unnatural drills to learn the stuff.
Maybe the problem is that Linux has gotten to easy to use. We should go back to requiring everyone download source files and compile everything themselves. Call it an intelligence test.
It's pointless to design for the biggest idiots you can find because they keep designing better idiots. Memcached isn't an app for average users. It's a programmers tool. If people that should know better are still idiots then let the damage be on their heads. Why waste resources trying to save idiots from themselves.
I say we let people self destruct early so that we can stop wasting resources. Let bad developers get themselves fired, let drug users overdose, etc. Eliminate the chaff instead of coddling everyone.
My Macbook has a 128GB SSD and 4GB RAM and it didn't cost $1500. It's a lot better computer than your $500 PC laptop too. Better than your $1500 PC laptop for that matter. You might get a more pimp clockspeed buying a PC but the resulting machine will still run slower in most cases and the hardware will usually not last as long. Likewise you will pay a bit more for a larger screen on your Mac but the screen will be better quality and the picture is much better.
My experience has been Macbooks take cosmetic damage worse than most PC laptops but the actual functionality holds up better. On white Macbooks the part around the keyboard tends to get chipped around the edges and the white outer shell shows scuffs. The metal ones tend to get little dents. But all the ports still work, the trackpad still works, the screen still works, and all the internal components still work. That has not been my experience with PC laptops at all and especially not the ones that are a lot cheaper than a Macbook.
As in most cases, you get what you pay for. Sure with a Mac some of what you are paying for is aesthetic and brand but those do have some real value.
Linux belongs on the server. The Linux desktop sucks. I used a Linux as my main desktop for more than ten years before getting disgusted and just switching to Mac OS. Instead of working on stability and usability they keep focusing on trying to copy Windows and Mac OS and stupid graphics. If that is all they offer I may as well just use Mac OS which overall works better and it still offers all the Unix and programming tools I'm familiar with.
I don't know how they would count me. I usually have a laptop with Mac OS, a laptop with Windows, an iPad, and an iTouch on me at least. And of course have Linux running in VM on both laptops and am remotely connected to my Linux cluster for doing all the real work.
My guess is that pure-Linux laptops have gone down with the easy availability of VM. Why bother getting Linux running on your laptop when you can just run it in VM on your laptop. Not as if there is a major selection of laptops with Linux preinstalled available.
I can see why Apple is destroying Microsoft. Apple laptops look better, are lighter, run cooler, have better battery life, have better screens, and last longer than most PC laptops and you aren't getting a crapshoot as with PC laptops. Even major branded PC laptops are difficult to judge if a specific model is is good or not. And Mac OS is more attractive, easier to use, more powerful, and more secure than any version of Windows. And it doesn't get a major redesign every single time a new version comes out and you don't have to choose between thirty slightly incompatible variants of the same version. Even the Mac version of MS Office is better than the Windows version. The only reason to have a PC is if you are a major PC gamer (I'm assuming most students don't need to run a legacy app).
That's why you create your own packages and have a system to add your mods to the public versions of the packages. I don't custom compile everything but the components most key to what I'm doing are often custom compiled because the public packaged lack the functionality I need.
I refuse to give even the boss access. I've even designed systems that wouldn't give me access except under very specific conditions such as a second admin also entering their credentials from a known system during business hours. Some data needs to be treated with extreme care.
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For me, it'll probably replace my iPod Touch if they release the smaller iPad. The iTouch is just a bit to small for browsing and reading but the iPad isn't pocket sized. I can carry a paperback book in my pocket so if it's similar in size it'll work for me. I have nothing against the iTouch, it's a wonderful device, but I don't know if I can justify having all three.
I'd also be interested in something iTouch sized that offered some sort of glasses, or maybe a clamshell case that flipped open to expose a second screen, as a way to have a bigger display. I'd hope any such features would be add-ons though and not part of the actual unit.
My biggest complaint about the iPhone/iTouch/iPad though is the buttons. They wear out long before the other parts. Lets get rid of the home button and replace it by making the front border (the black stuff) touch sensitive and allow different gestures to do different functions. Tap the center under the screen to 'press home', grip the left side and slide your finger alog the bottom to control volume, grip the right side and slide your finger along the bottom to control brightness, grip the upper left corner for the power button, and why not give it hot corners like Mac OS for showing open apps and Dashboard. I'd give a little buffer between the touch screen and touch border to make it less of a problem of accidentally going off the screen and would require two hand gestures where one is likely to be mis-recognized. Maybe have a physical off button or even just a nub (slightly protruding bump that is sensitive to a finger making electrical contact) for in case it gets really screwed and the touch controls aren't responding. If they could get rid of all the ports too and make it water resistant it'd be great. Let the thing charge through induction and communicate wirelessly. If you really must have physical ports think MagSafe and have them just stuck to the outside of the still water resistant case (in dimples maybe)?
Along with the possibility of a smaller iPad I expect there to be a re-imagining of the Apple TV soon. I wonder if the parts they are mentioning could be for something like that.
I think if their radio waves come into my yard they should pay me rent. We can work it out as trade - they give me access to the rest of their network and their radio waves can pass through my yard, home, and body.
Distraction is better.
Except 99% of people don't care and 99% of those that do are lazy so only a tiny fraction of people will use your Facebook killer and most of those are people who already knew how to run their own web server. Most of the benefit of Facebook type sites is that they provide a uniform centralized experience.
CS grads.. sadly many still don't know what cookies are.
If I was selling Bob's Pizza I could do a search for a Pizza Hut logo and then pitch my product to you.
What? Am I the only one that drinks a shot for each bug I find? I keep trying to get a job at Microsoft so I can have myself a real party.
Obj-C isn't especially difficult to learn but it's definitely not like working in something like Python. I'd like to see Apple offer a bit cleaner language to code in especially if they could make it interlink with C/C++/Obj-C well. (Something like built-in Prolog would be awesome too.)
I've experimented with my own pet Pythonic language that translates to Obj-C and it seems to not have any major issues over hand written Obj-C so I'm not sure why Apple would have any reason not to offer such a language.
Still learning to program for iOS isn't any more work than learning to program for Android.
I'd like to see Google switch to using Parrot. Translate it's byte code into whatever they need instead of Java. The ONLY things I still use Java for are Android and GWT both of which are Google projects. Java was always an overhyped suck language.
Maybe they should beat Oracle up a little to lower it's value and then just buy them?
I've been considering an Archos for months but they seem to rough for my needs still. I code for both iOS and Android but have yet to find an Android device I really like. I keep looking. My iPad is awesome.
Pressure sensitive pens exist for the iPad thanks to its Bluetooth. I don't know if it really makes a difference though other than being what you are used to. Could easily make your second hand a pressure indicator by moving your finger back and forth. I like being able to see what I'm drawing right under my finger/pen which is something that many drawing tablets don't do.
I write code and use Pages and Numbers on my iPad. It actually works pretty well. I do sometimes use a Bluetooth keyboard but it's mostly because they made the virtual keyboard keys to large instead of putting all the symbols in one place. Hopefully they'll offer an alternative eventually. I actually like the key size on the iTouch better because it's less distance to move your fingers.
Drawing and other interactions where touch works well are awesome of course. I would like a clip to slide on my Apple Bluetooth keyboard and my iPad to temporarily bind them into laptop shape for those occasions where a portable stand would be nice.
Except the ones in another city or state are owned by the same mega-corporation so essentially we're screwed without government oversight. There is a reason we have anti-trust laws - to bad we don't actually enforce them. It's ridiculous when citizens can't create their own solutions either on a private or government level because it could hurt some mega-corporations ability to rape the public.
Stop suppressing competition and then we'll talk about not letting the FCC keep mega-corporations under such stiff controls.
You're a fucking moron that didn't even read the post. It says " 'I don't trust my toddler with an iPad but this thing will be great for watching Gumby (don't ask) at home and Sesame Street in the car.'" right at the top of your page. Fucking AC people should be blocked from posting. Anyone without a karma bonus shouldn't be allowed to moderate either. Stupid wannabe geeks that can't do anything more than play World of Warcraft.
The SD slot makes it more likely to break. I've had iPods last years under heavy use. The cheapie ones last a couple months under similar use. I'd rather just not deal with it breaking.
Just using a tool doesn't mean anybody taught to use it well or know how it works. Most people are sheep and always will be. I do think there is a lot of value in having the education system do more to make people creators instead of just consumers. Teach how things work instead of assuming it's not important or to hard. Most people won't read a lot of books for leisure let alone write a book but we still teach reading and writing.
To some extent being intelligent and creative is just an inborn characteristic but to some extent it's a learned trait. Either way everyone will benefit from more effort to ingrain it in people. My educational experience was more the opposite - the school system trying to keep me from learning more than my peers or being creative.
My two year old is already smarter and more tech literate than many adults and even those of the 'net generation' that I know.
My two year old (26mo) daughter has claimed my iPad 3G 64GB, or "big pod" as she calls it, and I barely get to see it anymore. She has about four pages of just her apps and most of the space is full with kids shows I put on there for her. She'll carry it around with her everywhere and she leaves shows running in the background while she plays (Ni hao Kai-Lan and Max & Ruby are her favorite shows right now). She pretty much starts demanding it as soon as she wakes up in the morning and goes to sleep next to it at night. Her favorite app right now is Drawing Pad http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/drawing-pad/id358207332?mt=8. Many of the toddler games are excellent and affordable which is not what I've found with games for Wii or PC. Monkey Preschool Lunchbox http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/monkey-preschool-lunchbox/id328205875?mt=8 and Fish School http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fish-school-by-duck-duck-moose/id367567459?mt=8 are probably the best. The interactive books are also great and very affordable. Green Eggs and Ham http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/green-eggs-and-ham-dr-seuss/id380751745?mt=8 is $4. It costs more than that for the paper version that would get destroyed. My daughter knows exactly how to use the iPad as she was already an expert user of the iTouch which she's been using since she was six months old. Adults may complain that it's to heavy, or at least non-users do, but my two year old will lay on her back holding it over her head for a half hour at a time while she watches a show.
Like the iTouch, the iPad holds up very well to toddler use. I have a Zagg skin on it but no case. It handles being dropped and banged against stuff. It even handles being used as a drum. It is resistant to small spills and my daughter knows that if it gets wet to wipe it off and bring it to me right away. Sticky dirty fingers don't harm it at all and it's super easy to wipe off. The sound quality and volume are very good. Under constant use the battery lasts most of the day. She also has a kids portable dvd/tv player and the iPad is better in every way. The only issue I'm running into with it is that 64GB isn't enough space (although that is dozens of hours of video).
I have worried that she spends to much time playing with a computer and watching shows but she is very bright and imaginative and spends a lot of time playing pretend and blocks and such things. We also try to go to the park for a couple hours a day so she is getting exercise. From her shows and games she has picked up some sign language, Spanish, and Chinese. If anything I think the iPad is a great edutainment device and she is getting a leg up without having to go through unnatural drills to learn the stuff.
Maybe the problem is that Linux has gotten to easy to use. We should go back to requiring everyone download source files and compile everything themselves. Call it an intelligence test.
It's pointless to design for the biggest idiots you can find because they keep designing better idiots. Memcached isn't an app for average users. It's a programmers tool. If people that should know better are still idiots then let the damage be on their heads. Why waste resources trying to save idiots from themselves.
I say we let people self destruct early so that we can stop wasting resources. Let bad developers get themselves fired, let drug users overdose, etc. Eliminate the chaff instead of coddling everyone.
My Macbook has a 128GB SSD and 4GB RAM and it didn't cost $1500. It's a lot better computer than your $500 PC laptop too. Better than your $1500 PC laptop for that matter. You might get a more pimp clockspeed buying a PC but the resulting machine will still run slower in most cases and the hardware will usually not last as long. Likewise you will pay a bit more for a larger screen on your Mac but the screen will be better quality and the picture is much better.
My experience has been Macbooks take cosmetic damage worse than most PC laptops but the actual functionality holds up better. On white Macbooks the part around the keyboard tends to get chipped around the edges and the white outer shell shows scuffs. The metal ones tend to get little dents. But all the ports still work, the trackpad still works, the screen still works, and all the internal components still work. That has not been my experience with PC laptops at all and especially not the ones that are a lot cheaper than a Macbook.
As in most cases, you get what you pay for. Sure with a Mac some of what you are paying for is aesthetic and brand but those do have some real value.
Linux belongs on the server. The Linux desktop sucks. I used a Linux as my main desktop for more than ten years before getting disgusted and just switching to Mac OS. Instead of working on stability and usability they keep focusing on trying to copy Windows and Mac OS and stupid graphics. If that is all they offer I may as well just use Mac OS which overall works better and it still offers all the Unix and programming tools I'm familiar with.
I don't know how they would count me. I usually have a laptop with Mac OS, a laptop with Windows, an iPad, and an iTouch on me at least. And of course have Linux running in VM on both laptops and am remotely connected to my Linux cluster for doing all the real work.
My guess is that pure-Linux laptops have gone down with the easy availability of VM. Why bother getting Linux running on your laptop when you can just run it in VM on your laptop. Not as if there is a major selection of laptops with Linux preinstalled available.
I can see why Apple is destroying Microsoft. Apple laptops look better, are lighter, run cooler, have better battery life, have better screens, and last longer than most PC laptops and you aren't getting a crapshoot as with PC laptops. Even major branded PC laptops are difficult to judge if a specific model is is good or not. And Mac OS is more attractive, easier to use, more powerful, and more secure than any version of Windows. And it doesn't get a major redesign every single time a new version comes out and you don't have to choose between thirty slightly incompatible variants of the same version. Even the Mac version of MS Office is better than the Windows version. The only reason to have a PC is if you are a major PC gamer (I'm assuming most students don't need to run a legacy app).
Don't run it on a multi-user machine. That's why we invented server farms and virtualization. Nothing should be on a multi-user machine.
That's why you create your own packages and have a system to add your mods to the public versions of the packages. I don't custom compile everything but the components most key to what I'm doing are often custom compiled because the public packaged lack the functionality I need.
I refuse to give even the boss access. I've even designed systems that wouldn't give me access except under very specific conditions such as a second admin also entering their credentials from a known system during business hours. Some data needs to be treated with extreme care.