I actually hated iBooks at first for PDF viewing, but now it's addressed all of my complaints except for annotation. Brightness control, TOC, search, bookmarking, fast page scrolling... all there. Goodreader and other apps are a nice star, but 1) some are pay (especially the better ones) and 2) it really should be there in the first place.
At any rate, this is the typical apple design pattern. Relase a product with glaring and simple flaws. Allow market to find solutions for flaws. Destroy market with future update, neutralizing the flaws. Watch how many for pay print apps make money after November.
That would be so amazing. Next on the list is printing, which they already said is coming. The multitasking, which again, should be at least passable in iOS4.
One "issue" (more of a wishlist item) I fear will never be resolved is the lack of a stylus. I'd really love to take notes on it, but every solution I've tried doesn't live up to my tablet PC. But it seems like that isn't the direction Apple wants to take the iPad
Very true. I bought an iPad not fully aware of all the little limitations it has. I was aware there is no flash and no third party apps, but after using the thing for 4 months I've built a long list of shortcomings they just don't tell you about.
At the top of the list is one so frustratingly counterintuitive. I'm studying for a Ph.D., and part of that job includes reading paper after paper. Reading the papers is just great on the iPad, but you can't actually download and save papers from the iPad itself.
To get a paper on my iPad for offline viewing, I actually have to open up my netbook and e-mail the pdf to myself, then save it to iBooks from the mail app. E-mailing is actually the easiest file transfer method between iPad and computer, the alternative being digging out a cable, launching iTunes (kill me now) and syncing (and just sync the PDF if you want to get on with things, instead of waiting for EVERYTHING to sync). There is no wireless file transfer option.
Of course there are other options and apps out there which can hack together this functionality, but the main point is there are hundreds of examples of things like this, where you expect the functionality and it isn't there, necessitating a netbook or other companion PC.
The net effect is, I'm constantly switching between my iPad and netbook, and I'm increasingly wondering why I have an iPad at all. If it weren't for how great it is to read on, I'd probably sell it.
I bought my last netbook from Dell for $219 over the summer. My iPad cost $499, plus I needed a $30 display adapter for it. So if by "Price of an iPad is not far from a netbook." you mean "Price of an iPad is over twice that of a netbook" I'd agree with you.
Don't forget that every single iPad application is written to perform well on it, and be usable for the input choices you have.
While this is the idea behind Apple's walled garden approach, it's not universally true. Some applications just don't perform that well, for example, Netflix's app is basically just a web view, and isn't optimized at all for the iPad. Also, MLB at bat can be pretty sluggish sometimes.
Other apps are fundamentally flawed because of the input choices. I'm thinking specifically of apps like Penultimate, where I wish I had an actual pen to jot notes with. I've tried the chunky capacitive pens, and they're just not a replacement for an actual digitized screen you would find on a tablet PC. Also, I will mention Apple's iWork suite for iPad, which tries so hard to be touch only, but just BEGS for a keyboard and mouse. I've really tried to like it and use it, but the most I've done is some edits to already made documents.
I teach two sections of 30 students. My hard commitment is 2 1 hr labs and 2 hrs of office hours per week. I should supposedly be spending 20 hours a week on TA duty, (teaching, preparing, grading, dealing with student questions) but supposedly in practice it's much less (I say supposedly because it's only the first week)
The math works out as follows: Tuition is $1000 per credit, and 9 credits is a full load, so tuition is $9,000 per semester. I get paid $2,500 per month with my stiped, including the summer, so that comes out to $48,000 a year.
I've found this practice of paying full tuition to be pretty standard among PhD programs in the sciences and engineering. Thing are usually different for Masters and Liberal Arts.
Professor teaches lecture; I teach a recitation, hold office hours, and grade homeworks/exams. We have 6 TAs and 3 additional graders, so we split the work of grading between the 9 of us on a rotated schedule.
I just started my first week of gradschool, where 90% of the people in my program, and a large percentage throughout the university are asian. We had to sit through an orientation seminar on plagiarism, which seemed to be directed specifically at international students; there was a large emphasis on cultural differences on IP, and how in America we cite our sources. I suppose if they are brought up in a society where no one owns any ideas, blatantly copying entire works doesn't seem like a wrong thing to do.
An oral assessment would grade presentation ability which is irrelevant to course content.
But exceedingly relevant to life. Event academic research cannot exist without the ability to present (grant writing, paper writing, seminars, conferences).
Unfortunately recently US universities seem intent on admitting as many non-English speaking students as possible, so I'm not even sure you could use TAs to accurately asses students during oral exams.
Too true. I just started gradschool in computer engineering. They admitted 10 new students; I am the only American, while the rest are from China. We have some required first year courses together, and the before-class conversation is all in Chinese. What's worse, is they're starting to come to me for help with spelling and grammar. I'm happy to help them try to learn, but I have a feeling it's going to get out of hand when I get 9 requests to edit 9 different papers.
I'd say that situation is unlikely. I've never seen a paper written in an hour up to par with one that has been written, rewritten, and edited to perfection. Show me a paper you wrote in an hour you feel is perfect, and I'll show you some corrections you need to make. If you think you're an exception, you're a) arrogant, and b) probably not a good writer.
otherwise require you to hire an extra six entry level professors ($400,000, plus benefits = about half a million dollars) to handle the teaching load. Assuming an average class size of 30.
Instead they hire 6 grad students at about $50,000 (stipend + tuition) a year with no benefits to teach the classes. I'm fine with this of course, since it's paying for my education. I'm a TA for two 30 student sections of a 200 student course. It's introductory engineering, and I find it very rewarding, since I'm one of their first real contacts at the university. I'm only a few years older than them, and I think they can relate to me better than the stodgey old professor in the giant lecture hall.
Doesn't the concept of original sin mean that you're born going to hell? As an outsider, from my understanding it should be common belief among Christians that babies go to hell.
One of the funniest and scariest things said to me: "You're an atheist? How do you know right from wrong if you don't believe in God? If I wasn't Christian, there'd be nothing stopping me from going on a killing spree."
No, a true believer will say that gravity is pseudo science propagated by the liberal dominated academic institutions. Here's a good start on what to do:
No, in this case the tech would solicit to service his perfectly fine computer, then say if he does not service it, the user will not be able to connect to the Internet.
You act like the user had a choice. His choice was update or get screwed, or don't update and get screwed even more. If I asked you if you'd like to be raped with lube or without, which would you choose?
There are more than two outcomes to a marriage, divorce being one. There's happily ever after, widowing, murder, and being together and miserable for the rest of your life.
Back to the original point: What is the alternative to schooling? Sure there's the situation of no schooling, but I can point to educational systems around the world that don't resemble what we know as "school", yet are effective at educating.
I find I use my iPad mostly for content consumption as well. Browsing sites, looking up information, browsing pictures. Yeah I have Keynote, Numbers, and Pages installed, but they're largely gimmicks compared to Office for the desktop.
If only they included a stylus. My tablet PC is much more useful in terms of getting work done due to the stylus.
The search arm makes makes 99% (not an exaggeration) of Google's revenue through ads, and is effectively keeping every other Google product on life support. You can't break them up or the other projects will die.
Slashdot Mirror
I actually hated iBooks at first for PDF viewing, but now it's addressed all of my complaints except for annotation. Brightness control, TOC, search, bookmarking, fast page scrolling... all there. Goodreader and other apps are a nice star, but 1) some are pay (especially the better ones) and 2) it really should be there in the first place.
At any rate, this is the typical apple design pattern. Relase a product with glaring and simple flaws. Allow market to find solutions for flaws. Destroy market with future update, neutralizing the flaws. Watch how many for pay print apps make money after November.
That would be so amazing. Next on the list is printing, which they already said is coming. The multitasking, which again, should be at least passable in iOS4.
One "issue" (more of a wishlist item) I fear will never be resolved is the lack of a stylus. I'd really love to take notes on it, but every solution I've tried doesn't live up to my tablet PC. But it seems like that isn't the direction Apple wants to take the iPad
Very true. I bought an iPad not fully aware of all the little limitations it has. I was aware there is no flash and no third party apps, but after using the thing for 4 months I've built a long list of shortcomings they just don't tell you about.
At the top of the list is one so frustratingly counterintuitive. I'm studying for a Ph.D., and part of that job includes reading paper after paper. Reading the papers is just great on the iPad, but you can't actually download and save papers from the iPad itself.
To get a paper on my iPad for offline viewing, I actually have to open up my netbook and e-mail the pdf to myself, then save it to iBooks from the mail app. E-mailing is actually the easiest file transfer method between iPad and computer, the alternative being digging out a cable, launching iTunes (kill me now) and syncing (and just sync the PDF if you want to get on with things, instead of waiting for EVERYTHING to sync). There is no wireless file transfer option.
Of course there are other options and apps out there which can hack together this functionality, but the main point is there are hundreds of examples of things like this, where you expect the functionality and it isn't there, necessitating a netbook or other companion PC.
The net effect is, I'm constantly switching between my iPad and netbook, and I'm increasingly wondering why I have an iPad at all. If it weren't for how great it is to read on, I'd probably sell it.
Dell routinely offers 10% - 20% off coupons.
I bought my last netbook from Dell for $219 over the summer. My iPad cost $499, plus I needed a $30 display adapter for it. So if by "Price of an iPad is not far from a netbook." you mean "Price of an iPad is over twice that of a netbook" I'd agree with you.
Don't forget that every single iPad application is written to perform well on it, and be usable for the input choices you have.
While this is the idea behind Apple's walled garden approach, it's not universally true. Some applications just don't perform that well, for example, Netflix's app is basically just a web view, and isn't optimized at all for the iPad. Also, MLB at bat can be pretty sluggish sometimes.
Other apps are fundamentally flawed because of the input choices. I'm thinking specifically of apps like Penultimate, where I wish I had an actual pen to jot notes with. I've tried the chunky capacitive pens, and they're just not a replacement for an actual digitized screen you would find on a tablet PC. Also, I will mention Apple's iWork suite for iPad, which tries so hard to be touch only, but just BEGS for a keyboard and mouse. I've really tried to like it and use it, but the most I've done is some edits to already made documents.
I teach two sections of 30 students. My hard commitment is 2 1 hr labs and 2 hrs of office hours per week. I should supposedly be spending 20 hours a week on TA duty, (teaching, preparing, grading, dealing with student questions) but supposedly in practice it's much less (I say supposedly because it's only the first week)
The math works out as follows: Tuition is $1000 per credit, and 9 credits is a full load, so tuition is $9,000 per semester. I get paid $2,500 per month with my stiped, including the summer, so that comes out to $48,000 a year.
I've found this practice of paying full tuition to be pretty standard among PhD programs in the sciences and engineering. Thing are usually different for Masters and Liberal Arts.
Professor teaches lecture; I teach a recitation, hold office hours, and grade homeworks/exams. We have 6 TAs and 3 additional graders, so we split the work of grading between the 9 of us on a rotated schedule.
I just started my first week of gradschool, where 90% of the people in my program, and a large percentage throughout the university are asian. We had to sit through an orientation seminar on plagiarism, which seemed to be directed specifically at international students; there was a large emphasis on cultural differences on IP, and how in America we cite our sources. I suppose if they are brought up in a society where no one owns any ideas, blatantly copying entire works doesn't seem like a wrong thing to do.
An oral assessment would grade presentation ability which is irrelevant to course content.
But exceedingly relevant to life. Event academic research cannot exist without the ability to present (grant writing, paper writing, seminars, conferences).
Unfortunately recently US universities seem intent on admitting as many non-English speaking students as possible, so I'm not even sure you could use TAs to accurately asses students during oral exams.
Too true. I just started gradschool in computer engineering. They admitted 10 new students; I am the only American, while the rest are from China. We have some required first year courses together, and the before-class conversation is all in Chinese. What's worse, is they're starting to come to me for help with spelling and grammar. I'm happy to help them try to learn, but I have a feeling it's going to get out of hand when I get 9 requests to edit 9 different papers.
I'd say that situation is unlikely. I've never seen a paper written in an hour up to par with one that has been written, rewritten, and edited to perfection. Show me a paper you wrote in an hour you feel is perfect, and I'll show you some corrections you need to make. If you think you're an exception, you're a) arrogant, and b) probably not a good writer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grade_inflation
otherwise require you to hire an extra six entry level professors ($400,000, plus benefits = about half a million dollars) to handle the teaching load. Assuming an average class size of 30.
Instead they hire 6 grad students at about $50,000 (stipend + tuition) a year with no benefits to teach the classes. I'm fine with this of course, since it's paying for my education. I'm a TA for two 30 student sections of a 200 student course. It's introductory engineering, and I find it very rewarding, since I'm one of their first real contacts at the university. I'm only a few years older than them, and I think they can relate to me better than the stodgey old professor in the giant lecture hall.
Doesn't the concept of original sin mean that you're born going to hell? As an outsider, from my understanding it should be common belief among Christians that babies go to hell.
One of the funniest and scariest things said to me: "You're an atheist? How do you know right from wrong if you don't believe in God? If I wasn't Christian, there'd be nothing stopping me from going on a killing spree."
No, a true believer will say that gravity is pseudo science propagated by the liberal dominated academic institutions. Here's a good start on what to do:
http://www.conservapedia.com/Counterexamples_to_Relativity
No, in this case the tech would solicit to service his perfectly fine computer, then say if he does not service it, the user will not be able to connect to the Internet. You act like the user had a choice. His choice was update or get screwed, or don't update and get screwed even more. If I asked you if you'd like to be raped with lube or without, which would you choose?
Where was it indicated that the computers were running Windows?
The only thing you need to have an advantage over console players is a keyboard and mouse.
There are more than two outcomes to a marriage, divorce being one. There's happily ever after, widowing, murder, and being together and miserable for the rest of your life.
Back to the original point: What is the alternative to schooling? Sure there's the situation of no schooling, but I can point to educational systems around the world that don't resemble what we know as "school", yet are effective at educating.
I've never heard BIMDAS. We were taught PEMDAS, where P is Parentheses and E is Exponentiation.
I find I use my iPad mostly for content consumption as well. Browsing sites, looking up information, browsing pictures. Yeah I have Keynote, Numbers, and Pages installed, but they're largely gimmicks compared to Office for the desktop.
If only they included a stylus. My tablet PC is much more useful in terms of getting work done due to the stylus.
The search arm makes makes 99% (not an exaggeration) of Google's revenue through ads, and is effectively keeping every other Google product on life support. You can't break them up or the other projects will die.
They should send the usage statistics to the mailing addresses of all the big name game developers so we can finally get rid of Windows.
They'll look at the numbers and think "hm, just as low as I thought" and then continue to develop exclusively for windows.