Simple every day functions stutter, delay, lag, and overall are annoying due to the lower specs and lack of polish.
If you can look past those things then a $100 android device may be the way to go.
I've gotten my sub-100 dollar tab to perform with no stutters, delays or lags with a fair bit of work. If I, as a simple user can do that, I'm pretty sure some manufacturer will come along and do it pre-sale and offer it at a competitive price.
That said, I wouldn't recommend my low-end tablet to most people. But to believe that things won't improve for the end user (and quickly - look at how things have advanced just in the last year) is, well, naive.
but don't kid yourself or others it is a similar machine.
If it does everything he was planning to do on an iPad and performs acceptably, who's to say it's not a similar machine... for him? Not everyone, dare I say most people even, pushes their machines to the limit.
All of the examples you mention do just fine on a device that doesn't require a data plan of any sort. You can get capable and cheap android wifi-only devices for well under a hundred bucks these days, no monthly plan needed after that, cell or other.
This has been going on to some degree for quite a while.
I went to Hamline University in St. Paul, MN in the early 80s, and was able to take classes from 5 other area colleges that went toward my degree. Granted, all these colleges were private, but it's not a new concept.
So you'll get a cert from "Internet-U" stating you watched a video.
Have you taken any of the classes currently offered by Open Courseware?
I've only looked at a couple of the linguistics and foreign language courses, but there's definitely a lot more involved than watching a video. The courses I've seen are semester-length courses, with homework and exams.
but back in the 90s and early 2000s I used to go to the Fiesta Bowl every year with my family as part of our yearly Christmas get together, since my parents chose to live in Phoenix later in life.
While the game might be better than a pro game to watch, it was definitely set up to make money and draw TV viewers in.
I'm not a huge football fan, but I would always enjoy seeing what went on to produce a college bowl game, from the way media were handled on the sidelines, to parachuters (or helicopters) flying into the stadium, to the halftime show, to what went on during the commercial breaks, and there were TONS of commercial breaks. The audience's attention would shift (and immediately) from the field to the end zone screens during every commercial break. If you looked down at the field or sidelines, it was as if the players, coaches and everyone else involved in the production were robots being suddenly switched off while all our eyes were diverted to the big screens.
I always found that really fascinating. The few times I've been to a pro game, the slickness of it all wasn't anywhere near what the Fiesta Bowl was.
Which might make him more manageable to the US being that young. I am sure if he doesn't comply he will be gone soon.
He'll be gone for what replacement? If the US goal is to "manage" the region and/or head of state, well... the US doesn't have the best track record for placing people in power in foreign governments.
Your anecdote is based in being blind to reality & creating a reality to support your claims.
Just because my reality doesn't fit your reality doesn't mean that mine doesn't exist. It just means that our realities our different. It's silly to try to invalidate one anecdote with another by calling something that doesn't fit your world view as "blind".
I might have taken the second part of your post seriously had you not tried to wipe out an opposing view by calling it "blind".
Apple adapted their Mac word processor, spreadsheet and presentation applications for the iPad. Personally I think they are pretty capable and a good user experience with an external keyboard at least. With the onscreen keyboard I would only suggest brief usage. YMMV.
I don't have either a Mac or an iPad, so I don't know...
Do the iPad word processing/spreadsheet and presentation apps compare favorably with the desktop Mac versions? I know that the Android versions don't come anywhere close to Windows desktop Office or Open/LibreOffice versions, which you can currently run with no trouble on a netbook.
You can pretty much run any kind of desktop application on a netbook. The same can't be said for a tablet (again, I don't own an iPad - I'm talking tablets in general). While the iPad may currently be the best selling tablet, I don't envision that to always be the case, unless Apple is suddenly willing to drastically reduce its price - something history has shown Apple won't do.
I think a tablet is a complementary product for desktops and laptops, and it is a competing product for netbooks. I also think this will eventually change. In the future I expect some tablet device to basically be somewhat similar to the CPU "box" of a desktop. When mobile it acts like a tablet, when at your desk in its dock its just the "CPU" with external storage, keyboard and display connecting to it. Not terribly different than connecting a laptop to a full sized keyboard and monitor when at your desk.
I think you're right in saying that a dockable tablet will eventually replace netooks. But I don't think we're there yet, because when "docked" with a keyboard, it still isn't as useful as a netbook or a notebook, if only because the tablet applications themselves aren't as powerful as their desktop equivalents or don't translate well to a desktop experience. When I'm out and about I don't see many tablets. I do, however, still see a lot of netbooks. Yes, there may be a lot of tablets used at home or in business, but that's not what I'm still seeing out in public.
Acer is a discount computer maker, so they'll continue to make discount computers, but people won't be buying netbooks anywhere near the level they once were. And this is all thanks to the iPad.
What do you think Dell was, high end? Equating a high-priced tablet to a low-priced netbook by inferring that it killed the low-priced market makes no sense.
That was exactly what I thought when I read the summary. If a 12 y/o kid hasn't shown any interest in something like programming, they probably aren't going to be interested in it.
Your stove alone could use close to 6000 W when you've got it all running. It's not that huge a consumption. A dollar an hour.
No, not mine. Not anywhere near 6000W.
But I've taken measure to reduce electricity consumption in the cabin, partly by buying lower wattage appliances. Solar panels are going into the mix next year.
albeit with electricity, that's a hell of a lot of juice running through one house.
Then again, I'm not a gamer, so I don't need a whole lot of power to do what I need to. My cabin is capable of running a couple major appliances, lights, TV, radio, vacuum cleaner, a couple laptops, but certainly not 12 X 500W (most likely) or more, just for computers, not to mention networking.
Right now, it is so confusing to the customer. Where is the softly assuring BEEEEEEP WAHUNG WAHUNG SCSSHHHHHHHHH white noise after connecting that lets you know that you are receiving 56k service?
You just KNOW there's some hipster out there thinking "Hey! If I can find a away to recreate that, but faster, I'll be RICH!"
I had an N800 for a long time and I miss it. I used to think that it was Maemo that was what made it so special because I thought everything was logically laid out, but I'm not so sure. It may just have been that that is what I got used to.
I think it was the solid hardware, more than anything. Even with a now passé resistive screen, everything was super smooth and I very rarely used a stylus. I have a cheap knock-off Android tablet now, and it's really not a smooth experience. The hardware is definitely not as well made, from the loose AC plug to the crappy speakers. Headphones are good though. Screen responsiveness downright sucks.
If I could find a way to install or at least run Maemo from an SD card on my current tablet, I'd try it to see if I still felt the same way about the OS.
Why would they use the Kindle for textbooks? The Kindle is black-and-white and doesn't support the kind of interactivity an iPad would.
Have people lost their minds around here or something? Just because an article exists about something that is a product doesn't mean it's just a big advertisement. You wouldn't even be saying all this if it was written about a product you happened to like, such as an Android device. But because it's the iPad--which Slashdotters have decided they don't like because it's popular--suddenly it's just pandering to Apple.
Grow up!
No, I'd say the same thing if it were about an Android device too.
Have you watched the video included in the PCWorld article? It's nothing but a product placement ad for iPhome. You need an iPad, of course.
But the fact is, the article doesn't extol any positive virtue the iPad may have. Really. Go and read the article and watch the video. If anything, the one teacher being interviewed in the video downplays the iPad itself.
"... or whether the brain structure changed as a result of their intensive training (which requires rote memorization of essentially the entire street map of one of the largest and least-organized cities in the world)."
I don't know that rote memorization plays that big a part in it, rather I think it's more learning by doing thing. I would dare say that it's impossible to memorize a map of London without actually doing some driving and combining that map knowledge with other visuals such as landmarks, familiar sounds, etc.
I also think that alertness - not necessarily to the task of memorization, at least in the beginning of any learning stage, plays a part in it. When you're driving AND learning your way through streets, map knowledge is only one part of it. If you're alert, you're relying on other senses too.
Slashdot Mirror
Old school rules.
Maybe. Doesn't mean you know what to do once you're on the page. That page was just painful.
Whatever their issues were. Engineers are good at defining and solving problems. "Occupy" failed to define a problem.
I just wasted mod points to simply reply:
Maybe Engineers aren't such good listeners, then. The problem has CLEARLY been defined, and by many people.
Simple every day functions stutter, delay, lag, and overall are annoying due to the lower specs and lack of polish.
If you can look past those things then a $100 android device may be the way to go.
I've gotten my sub-100 dollar tab to perform with no stutters, delays or lags with a fair bit of work. If I, as a simple user can do that, I'm pretty sure some manufacturer will come along and do it pre-sale and offer it at a competitive price.
That said, I wouldn't recommend my low-end tablet to most people. But to believe that things won't improve for the end user (and quickly - look at how things have advanced just in the last year) is, well, naive.
but don't kid yourself or others it is a similar machine.
If it does everything he was planning to do on an iPad and performs acceptably, who's to say it's not a similar machine... for him? Not everyone, dare I say most people even, pushes their machines to the limit.
All of the examples you mention do just fine on a device that doesn't require a data plan of any sort. You can get capable and cheap android wifi-only devices for well under a hundred bucks these days, no monthly plan needed after that, cell or other.
I went to Hamline University in St. Paul, MN in the early 80s, and was able to take classes from 5 other area colleges that went toward my degree. Granted, all these colleges were private, but it's not a new concept.
So you'll get a cert from "Internet-U" stating you watched a video.
Have you taken any of the classes currently offered by Open Courseware?
I've only looked at a couple of the linguistics and foreign language courses, but there's definitely a lot more involved than watching a video. The courses I've seen are semester-length courses, with homework and exams.
While the game might be better than a pro game to watch, it was definitely set up to make money and draw TV viewers in.
I'm not a huge football fan, but I would always enjoy seeing what went on to produce a college bowl game, from the way media were handled on the sidelines, to parachuters (or helicopters) flying into the stadium, to the halftime show, to what went on during the commercial breaks, and there were TONS of commercial breaks. The audience's attention would shift (and immediately) from the field to the end zone screens during every commercial break. If you looked down at the field or sidelines, it was as if the players, coaches and everyone else involved in the production were robots being suddenly switched off while all our eyes were diverted to the big screens.
I always found that really fascinating. The few times I've been to a pro game, the slickness of it all wasn't anywhere near what the Fiesta Bowl was.
Which might make him more manageable to the US being that young. I am sure if he doesn't comply he will be gone soon.
He'll be gone for what replacement? If the US goal is to "manage" the region and/or head of state, well... the US doesn't have the best track record for placing people in power in foreign governments.
Your anecdote is based in being blind to reality & creating a reality to support your claims.
Just because my reality doesn't fit your reality doesn't mean that mine doesn't exist. It just means that our realities our different. It's silly to try to invalidate one anecdote with another by calling something that doesn't fit your world view as "blind".
I might have taken the second part of your post seriously had you not tried to wipe out an opposing view by calling it "blind".
Apple adapted their Mac word processor, spreadsheet and presentation applications for the iPad. Personally I think they are pretty capable and a good user experience with an external keyboard at least. With the onscreen keyboard I would only suggest brief usage. YMMV.
I don't have either a Mac or an iPad, so I don't know...
Do the iPad word processing/spreadsheet and presentation apps compare favorably with the desktop Mac versions? I know that the Android versions don't come anywhere close to Windows desktop Office or Open/LibreOffice versions, which you can currently run with no trouble on a netbook.
You can pretty much run any kind of desktop application on a netbook. The same can't be said for a tablet (again, I don't own an iPad - I'm talking tablets in general). While the iPad may currently be the best selling tablet, I don't envision that to always be the case, unless Apple is suddenly willing to drastically reduce its price - something history has shown Apple won't do.
I think a tablet is a complementary product for desktops and laptops, and it is a competing product for netbooks. I also think this will eventually change. In the future I expect some tablet device to basically be somewhat similar to the CPU "box" of a desktop. When mobile it acts like a tablet, when at your desk in its dock its just the "CPU" with external storage, keyboard and display connecting to it. Not terribly different than connecting a laptop to a full sized keyboard and monitor when at your desk.
I think you're right in saying that a dockable tablet will eventually replace netooks. But I don't think we're there yet, because when "docked" with a keyboard, it still isn't as useful as a netbook or a notebook, if only because the tablet applications themselves aren't as powerful as their desktop equivalents or don't translate well to a desktop experience. When I'm out and about I don't see many tablets. I do, however, still see a lot of netbooks. Yes, there may be a lot of tablets used at home or in business, but that's not what I'm still seeing out in public.
Acer is a discount computer maker, so they'll continue to make discount computers, but people won't be buying netbooks anywhere near the level they once were. And this is all thanks to the iPad.
What do you think Dell was, high end? Equating a high-priced tablet to a low-priced netbook by inferring that it killed the low-priced market makes no sense.
iPad killed the netbook market.
I doubt it.
Otherwise we wouldn't be seeing Acer continue with their Aspire One line either. They'd be just focusing on their Iconia tablet line.
They have no programming experience,
and probably no interest.
That was exactly what I thought when I read the summary. If a 12 y/o kid hasn't shown any interest in something like programming, they probably aren't going to be interested in it.
Your stove alone could use close to 6000 W when you've got it all running. It's not that huge a consumption. A dollar an hour.
No, not mine. Not anywhere near 6000W.
But I've taken measure to reduce electricity consumption in the cabin, partly by buying lower wattage appliances. Solar panels are going into the mix next year.
Then again, I'm not a gamer, so I don't need a whole lot of power to do what I need to. My cabin is capable of running a couple major appliances, lights, TV, radio, vacuum cleaner, a couple laptops, but certainly not 12 X 500W (most likely) or more, just for computers, not to mention networking.
Right now, it is so confusing to the customer. Where is the softly assuring BEEEEEEP WAHUNG WAHUNG SCSSHHHHHHHHH white noise after connecting that lets you know that you are receiving 56k service?
You just KNOW there's some hipster out there thinking "Hey! If I can find a away to recreate that, but faster, I'll be RICH!"
I think it was the solid hardware, more than anything. Even with a now passé resistive screen, everything was super smooth and I very rarely used a stylus. I have a cheap knock-off Android tablet now, and it's really not a smooth experience. The hardware is definitely not as well made, from the loose AC plug to the crappy speakers. Headphones are good though. Screen responsiveness downright sucks.
If I could find a way to install or at least run Maemo from an SD card on my current tablet, I'd try it to see if I still felt the same way about the OS.
Why would they use the Kindle for textbooks? The Kindle is black-and-white and doesn't support the kind of interactivity an iPad would.
Have people lost their minds around here or something? Just because an article exists about something that is a product doesn't mean it's just a big advertisement. You wouldn't even be saying all this if it was written about a product you happened to like, such as an Android device. But because it's the iPad--which Slashdotters have decided they don't like because it's popular--suddenly it's just pandering to Apple.
Grow up!
No, I'd say the same thing if it were about an Android device too.
Have you watched the video included in the PCWorld article? It's nothing but a product placement ad for iPhome. You need an iPad, of course.
But the fact is, the article doesn't extol any positive virtue the iPad may have. Really. Go and read the article and watch the video. If anything, the one teacher being interviewed in the video downplays the iPad itself.
I don't do anything out of the ordinary to otherwise secure or anonymize my downloading using either Transmission or Vuze, for what it's worth.
The sad thing is, I don't even know if you're joking.
Read the article and in particular the "Thanks to iPhome founder..." attribution at the end of the article to realize he's not joking.
But why would she say iPad and not tablet? There are huge numbers of tablets that compete with the iPad.
Because the creator of iPhome, a case designed for the iPad, arranged it.
Remember when PCWorld used to be one giant ad for whatever PC program-of-the month was paying them? Now it seems that it panders to Apple too.
The "article" is just one giant love fest for the iPad, arranged by the founder of "iPhome". Oh well, at least they managed to mention "Kindle" once.
"... or whether the brain structure changed as a result of their intensive training (which requires rote memorization of essentially the entire street map of one of the largest and least-organized cities in the world)."
I don't know that rote memorization plays that big a part in it, rather I think it's more learning by doing thing. I would dare say that it's impossible to memorize a map of London without actually doing some driving and combining that map knowledge with other visuals such as landmarks, familiar sounds, etc.
I also think that alertness - not necessarily to the task of memorization, at least in the beginning of any learning stage, plays a part in it. When you're driving AND learning your way through streets, map knowledge is only one part of it. If you're alert, you're relying on other senses too.