We both understand that, because we both take more of an interest in this stuff than the average joe.
But from the non technical user's POV, they trust Apple to look out for them. They see the app right there in the store, and rightly make an assumption that Apple have made all the neccessary checks of that app to ensure the user is kept out of harms way.
The curated environment Apple has crafted gives the impression of safety, security and trustworthiness. Incidents like this make people question that trust.
Strictly from a non-technical, user's point of view, this stuff shouldn't happen precicely because of the app review process. That screening process is supposed to give the user the confidence that the app is going to be a good actor, and not do a bunch of stuff its not supposed to. It essentially tells the user "trust Apple to keep a look out for you".
I don't expect to hear that a vetted app throws my login credentials out there in plain text for all to see. Things like this, along with finding out that iOS gives up my entire address book to an app without asking me first, leaves a bad taste in my mouth and makes me question that review process.
It's not Apple's fault that they appear to be the only company taking education seriously enough to upend the current broken structure of authoring and delivering resources. I'll probably get flamed for saying it, but I don't see any of the other big technology organisations, open or closed, doing much about this. Perhaps if they took education as seriously they wouldn't have waited for Apple to come and do something in this arena first. Not wishing to turn this into the traditional Apple vs Microsoft debate, but arguably Microsoft are Apple's biggest rival in this space and all they seem to be doing for schools is offering discounts on Windows and Office. Revolutionary indeed.
I do agree with your point around patents though - this is where Apple is at its worst, and I'd argue the current patent system encourages the kind of behaviour that stifles innovation. To my mind the blame lies with the patent office every time one of these ridiculous ideas becomes patented.
E-textbooks have not gained traction to date so this is fairly new territory. If other technology firms were as serious about this subject then they would have all held education events and showcased their idea of what the future of education looks like, including a vision for improving the publishing experience. The current paper-based method is wildly expensive for both authors and schools, becomes obsolete every few years and is a pretty crap deal for educators and students. Instead of picking holes in Apple's strategy, I'd be asking why is only a single company taking an interest in improving this experience?
I'm not saying I don't see the benefits of open. What I can't understand is the mindset of the anti-closed brigade who refuse to believe that anything proprietory can be good. There's plenty of room for both.
Slating something *just because* it's not open is ridiculous, especially when there's a distinct lack of open competition in the subject area being discussed (in this case, digital textbooks, content authoring and delivery).
So never mind about all the benefits something can bring, unless it's 'open' it's useless and has no future?
I understand the benefits of open, but I don't understand the obsession some people have with it. Something can be closed, proprietary and locked-down and still be thoughtfully crafted, built to a high standard, be of excellent benefit to the customer and serve its purpose well.
I see no 'open' projects out there with the ecosystem and vision to deploy something as elegant as what Apple showed today, including the cross-device support and authoring tools. Teachers will be able to create their own content with this without spending years trying to get published. The best part is the content can be updated for years to come so it need never expire. Compare this to extremely expensive paper textbooks that have a useful life of 5 years.
Whilst I find writing things down is a better way of embedding knowledge, I don't see why note-taking and an iPad textbook have to be mutually exclusive. You could have all the benefits of a digital textbook (lighter, cheaper, always up to date and far easier to search) and still use your paper to take notes.
Mind you, I'm not saying the rocks are not from Mars. But I really don't think we've got the data to make such conclusions. And I tend to chalk it up to "I want to get published Mommy".
It's the matter of "case closed" we're not open to alternatives or other thoughts. That's what I'm getting sick of. It's not the science I studied as a kid. Sure you could postulate an idea, test it, conclude that there was a potentiality. But in a game this big, such absolutes are in my book foolish.
I can't tell if you're trolling or being stupid. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you're not trolling.
You might not have the data, but the scientist team did. Thanks to their work we know the chemical composition of Mars rock. It's distinctive from Earth rock and moon rock. There is conclusive proof that these rocks are from Mars. What have you got up your sleeve that suggests the findings of this study are flawed?
As for the science you studied at school - I'm glad I didn't attend the same school as you. Science seeks to find the truth - it does so without being discriminative, and it does so conclusively. Anything can have "potentiality" - it's scientific study that allows us to prove.
If you have something to discredit this study, then by all means, let's all take a look.
If you purchase music on the go (from iTunes) you don't even need iTunes Match to enjoy the benefit of over-the-air sync. Stuff you buy on one iDevice is 'pushed' to your other iDevices (and PC) anyway. iTunes Match is really aimed at people with large CD-ripped libraries.
About 60% of my music is cd-ripped, and I don't have the discs anymore, so if anything happened to my hard drive I'd lose the lot. For £21/year, that music is up converted to 256kps (I ripped at 128kps years ago - my bad) and downloadable to my phone too, at any time. Plus, and more importantly for me, it's backed up offline.
As an insurance policy, I think £21 is pretty good value.
Not going to happen. They've thrown their hat into the Touch arena, and are favouring track pads now. I wouldn't be surprised if they eventually ditch the mouse altogether. Fortunately there's plenty of quality mice on the market from 3rd parties.
Slashdot Mirror
And I wouldn't mind living in a world where everyone put down their guns and just started being dicks to each other on the internet instead.
Just started? Dude, by your definition World War 3 has been raging for the last 20 years!
Me too. I'm calling this phenomenon 'scandal-gate'.
Biggest laptop manufacturer using NAND = Apple
Report claiming NAND unreliable commissioned by = Microsoft.
Hmmm....
We both understand that, because we both take more of an interest in this stuff than the average joe.
But from the non technical user's POV, they trust Apple to look out for them. They see the app right there in the store, and rightly make an assumption that Apple have made all the neccessary checks of that app to ensure the user is kept out of harms way.
The curated environment Apple has crafted gives the impression of safety, security and trustworthiness. Incidents like this make people question that trust.
Strictly from a non-technical, user's point of view, this stuff shouldn't happen precicely because of the app review process. That screening process is supposed to give the user the confidence that the app is going to be a good actor, and not do a bunch of stuff its not supposed to. It essentially tells the user "trust Apple to keep a look out for you".
I don't expect to hear that a vetted app throws my login credentials out there in plain text for all to see. Things like this, along with finding out that iOS gives up my entire address book to an app without asking me first, leaves a bad taste in my mouth and makes me question that review process.
For example, I don't see a whole lot of homosexuals being hung from cranes in the US.
You're right. The US murders innocent civilians abroad instead.
It's just a different brand of evil.
I fear if they use this to push notifications for each new Firefox release then I'll exceed my data cap.
They shouldn't just be able to take what they want from it. That technology is valuable IP.
This is why we need SOPA.
It's not Apple's fault that they appear to be the only company taking education seriously enough to upend the current broken structure of authoring and delivering resources. I'll probably get flamed for saying it, but I don't see any of the other big technology organisations, open or closed, doing much about this. Perhaps if they took education as seriously they wouldn't have waited for Apple to come and do something in this arena first. Not wishing to turn this into the traditional Apple vs Microsoft debate, but arguably Microsoft are Apple's biggest rival in this space and all they seem to be doing for schools is offering discounts on Windows and Office. Revolutionary indeed.
I do agree with your point around patents though - this is where Apple is at its worst, and I'd argue the current patent system encourages the kind of behaviour that stifles innovation. To my mind the blame lies with the patent office every time one of these ridiculous ideas becomes patented.
E-textbooks have not gained traction to date so this is fairly new territory. If other technology firms were as serious about this subject then they would have all held education events and showcased their idea of what the future of education looks like, including a vision for improving the publishing experience. The current paper-based method is wildly expensive for both authors and schools, becomes obsolete every few years and is a pretty crap deal for educators and students. Instead of picking holes in Apple's strategy, I'd be asking why is only a single company taking an interest in improving this experience?
I'm not saying I don't see the benefits of open. What I can't understand is the mindset of the anti-closed brigade who refuse to believe that anything proprietory can be good. There's plenty of room for both.
Slating something *just because* it's not open is ridiculous, especially when there's a distinct lack of open competition in the subject area being discussed (in this case, digital textbooks, content authoring and delivery).
And are textbooks that become outdated after a few years every time the curriculum changes really an already solved problem then?
So never mind about all the benefits something can bring, unless it's 'open' it's useless and has no future?
I understand the benefits of open, but I don't understand the obsession some people have with it. Something can be closed, proprietary and locked-down and still be thoughtfully crafted, built to a high standard, be of excellent benefit to the customer and serve its purpose well.
I see no 'open' projects out there with the ecosystem and vision to deploy something as elegant as what Apple showed today, including the cross-device support and authoring tools. Teachers will be able to create their own content with this without spending years trying to get published. The best part is the content can be updated for years to come so it need never expire. Compare this to extremely expensive paper textbooks that have a useful life of 5 years.
Whilst I find writing things down is a better way of embedding knowledge, I don't see why note-taking and an iPad textbook have to be mutually exclusive. You could have all the benefits of a digital textbook (lighter, cheaper, always up to date and far easier to search) and still use your paper to take notes.
Mind you, I'm not saying the rocks are not from Mars. But I really don't think we've got the data to make such conclusions. And I tend to chalk it up to "I want to get published Mommy".
It's the matter of "case closed" we're not open to alternatives or other thoughts. That's what I'm getting sick of. It's not the science I studied as a kid. Sure you could postulate an idea, test it, conclude that there was a potentiality. But in a game this big, such absolutes are in my book foolish.
I can't tell if you're trolling or being stupid. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you're not trolling.
You might not have the data, but the scientist team did. Thanks to their work we know the chemical composition of Mars rock. It's distinctive from Earth rock and moon rock. There is conclusive proof that these rocks are from Mars. What have you got up your sleeve that suggests the findings of this study are flawed?
As for the science you studied at school - I'm glad I didn't attend the same school as you. Science seeks to find the truth - it does so without being discriminative, and it does so conclusively. Anything can have "potentiality" - it's scientific study that allows us to prove.
If you have something to discredit this study, then by all means, let's all take a look.
If you purchase music on the go (from iTunes) you don't even need iTunes Match to enjoy the benefit of over-the-air sync. Stuff you buy on one iDevice is 'pushed' to your other iDevices (and PC) anyway. iTunes Match is really aimed at people with large CD-ripped libraries.
About 60% of my music is cd-ripped, and I don't have the discs anymore, so if anything happened to my hard drive I'd lose the lot. For £21/year, that music is up converted to 256kps (I ripped at 128kps years ago - my bad) and downloadable to my phone too, at any time. Plus, and more importantly for me, it's backed up offline.
As an insurance policy, I think £21 is pretty good value.
An American, thinking that the US = The World?
What a surprise.
Will it move into warmer waters (and melt?)
You totally misunderstood. He was referring to the typo (manor vs. manner)
There are no fart apps in the top 20 paid, free or grossing app store charts.
Build something brilliant. Make it great. Price it sensibly. Be honest and proud in describing it.
Cheap app. Shows your nicked Mac on a map. Takes mugshots of the person using it. Let's you lock/wipe the machine.
Bit late now of course, the horse has bolted.
The Poor Standards agency are also looking into MS Office.
Our secret service is just one big trailer for the forthcoming Johnny English sequel.
Not going to happen. They've thrown their hat into the Touch arena, and are favouring track pads now. I wouldn't be surprised if they eventually ditch the mouse altogether. Fortunately there's plenty of quality mice on the market from 3rd parties.