The iPad is not a laptop. It's not nearly as good for creating stuff. On the other hand, it's infinitely more convenient for consuming it - books, music, video, photos, Web, e-mail and so on. For most people, manipulating these digital materials directly by touching them is a completely new experience - and a deeply satisfying one.
I am waiting to see what happens with the Microsoft Courier (http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/05/microsofts-courier-digital-journal-exclusive-pictures-and-de/) - looks sweet.-Darwin (April 02, 2010, 11:23 PM)
Microsoft Courier-Darwin (April 02, 2010, 11:23 PM)
Skiff (http://www.itechdiary.com/skiff-ebook-reader-with-flexible-screen.html) Slate (http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/06/the-hp-slate/)-Darwin (April 03, 2010, 10:07 AM)
Still, neither really very portable.
Ebook readers can be put in pockets (just, depending on pockets) - and that's the size I'd be looking for.-Dormouse (April 03, 2010, 10:13 AM)
Why I won't buy an iPad (and think you shouldn't, either)
Cory Doctorow at 5:23 AM April 2, 2010
I've spent ten years now on Boing Boing, finding cool things that people have done and made and writing about them. Most of the really exciting stuff hasn't come from big corporations with enormous budgets, it's come from experimentalist amateurs. These people were able to make stuff and put it in the public's eye and even sell it without having to submit to the whims of a single company that had declared itself gatekeeper for your phone and other personal technology...
It is now 1984.
(dramatic pause...)
It appears IBM wants it all.
Apple is perceived to be the only hope to offer IBM a run for its money. Dealers initially welcoming IBM with open arms now fear an IBM-dominated and controlled future.
They are increasingly turning back to Apple as the only force that can ensure their future freedom.
IBM wants it all and is aiming its guns on its last obstacle to industry control: Apple.
Will Big Blue dominate the entire computer industry? The entire information age?
Was George Orwell right?
The Gizmodo website sums up the early iPad reviews and they are quite positive..-mouser (April 01, 2010, 07:52 AM)
Oh yeah, I was so glad to see Will It Blend is still on the ball. :D I wasn't sure what he was going to do with it at first since it doesn't fit, so what came next was a bit of a shock, but oddly satisfying. :P
- Oshyan-JavaJones (April 05, 2010, 10:48 PM)
Over at boingboing Cory Doctorow has a nice little essay that pretty much sums up for me exactly what the problem is with a company like Apple and the entire idea behind a product like the iPad.
Well worth a look if you're interested in reading an unusually sane analysis of why the iPad represents a colossal step backwards rather than forward as far as the web and mediaspace are concerned.
Link: http://www.boingboing.net/2010/04/02/why-i-wont-buy-an-ipad-and-think-you-shouldnt-either.html-40hz (April 03, 2010, 01:47 PM)
So what does Marvel do to "enhance" its comics? They take away the right to give, sell or loan your comics. What an improvement. Way to take the joyous, marvellous sharing and bonding experience of comic reading and turn it into a passive, lonely undertaking that isolates, rather than unites. Nice one, Misney.This is something that I actually discuss often with my friend.
Here's a useful review of the iPad that concentrates on using it for reading (as opposed to playing games or other fanboi activities): http://www.the-ebook-reader.com/apple-ipad.html . If you are interested in ebooks and ebook readers in general, this is a good site to explore.-xtabber (April 06, 2010, 09:47 PM)
Holy crap Apple, seriously? *That's* how your shiny new toy handles data sync? Wow. Just... wow.Seriously, why the shock? ...This is a perfect Apple "File Sharing" efficiency match for the MacBook Wheel...-JavaJones (April 06, 2010, 03:35 PM)
It gets worse. There is no way to share the same document with more than one iPad app. For example, a Word document imported to Pages cannot be accessed by any other iPad app, even other apps that can open Word documents.
It gets worse. There is no way to share the same document with more than one iPad app. For example, a Word document imported to Pages cannot be accessed by any other iPad app, even other apps that can open Word documents. The only work-around is to import the document twice, once for each app. Further, if you ever delete an app from your iPad, any documents stored with that app are deleted as well.
IMNHO, the Sony eBook Readers and the Kindles et al. are already overpriced. Buying the iPad as a book reader would be ridiculous. Of course, I don't think that is what you were suggesting, and the review certainly isn't either, but I've heard/seen it suggested enough to feel compelled to comment.-Darwin (April 06, 2010, 10:28 PM)
IBuying the iPad as a book reader would be ridiculous. Of course, I don't think that is what you were suggesting, and the review certainly isn't either, but I've heard/seen it suggested enough to feel compelled to comment.-Darwin (April 06, 2010, 10:28 PM)
And for people that read voraciously and consume written material at the rate that some do, the price of the kindle/nook (especially considering they include 3G- note that I don't say 'free' as I consider it part of the premium) is reasonable.-wraith808 (April 07, 2010, 08:43 AM)
Heh, heh - I do read voraciously. Still, I don't think that $300+ is reasonable.-Darwin (April 07, 2010, 09:02 AM)
I'm amazed at the number of young people who read books on their iPhones -- a 25 year-old relative whom I've never known to be interested in literature was reading "Pride and Prejudice" on his when I visited his parents home at Christmas. Can't argue with that.-xtabber (April 07, 2010, 08:55 AM)
I'll drop a dollar or two without going through the trouble of downloading a trial, then getting the final version.-wraith808 (April 07, 2010, 02:19 PM)
What I've noticed about my app purchases is that most of them aren't on my iPhone anymore...-wraith808 (April 07, 2010, 08:33 PM)
I know there will be many who have already taken one look and pronounced it to be nothing but a large iPhone and something of a disappointment. I have heard these voices before. In June 2007 when the iPhone was launched I collected a long list of “not impressed”, “meh”, “big deal”, “style over substance”, “it’s all hype”, “my HTC TyTN can do more”, “what a disappointment”, “majorly underwhelmed” and similar reactions. They can hug to themselves the excuse that the first release of iPhone was 2G, closed to developers and without GPS, cut and paste and many other features that have since been incorporated. Neither they, nor I, nor anyone, predicted the “game-changing” effect the phone would so rapidly have as it evolved into a 3G, third-party app rich, compass and GPS enabled market leader. Even if it had proved a commercial and business disaster instead of an astounding success, iPhone would remain the most significant release of its generation because of its effect on the smartphone habitat. Does anybody seriously believe that Android, Nokia, Samsung, Palm, BlackBerry and a dozen others would since have produced the product line they have without the 100,000 volt taser shot up the jacksie that the iPhone delivered to the entire market?
Well, just to play devil's advocate here, I'm going to post an article by the great Stephen Fry about the ipad:
http://www.stephenfry.com/2010/01/28/ipad-about/-superboyac (April 08, 2010, 09:12 AM)
For most people, manipulating these digital materials directly by touching them is a completely new experience - and a deeply satisfying one.
<snip />
Looking back at history, it may have appeared that way with the iPhone 1st gen too. Things that have already been mentioned in this thread like the atrocious handling if iWork documents sync, or the necessity of connecting to a primary computer system to even use the thing (forget about it being a great system for "grandma" or "average user" unless they already have a different PC, so let's drop that argument!). Not to mention the apparent issues with weight and ergonomics.-JavaJones (April 08, 2010, 02:48 PM)
Is it only about the money and "instant cool" though? I can't recall Jobs doing anything charitable on any scale with his company or his gadgets. Whatever I may think of Mr. Gates's company, the man has spent the last decade giving back around the globe in demonstrable ways. It's like the guy (Arnold?) who went out and bought the biggest Hummer made just to show that he could burn more gas than your biggest SUV. Or perhaps the rich lady who spends tens of thousands of dollars on a special purse to carry their fluffy dog around with them in airports. And SuperboyAC, most of the Apple people I know are on my teevee, telling me how great their new shiny toy is. No matter how hard I try, I can't respect CNBC's Erin Burnett.Ha! yeah, I'm on your side. All I'm saying is that a few years ago, I would have bashed apple to a pulp. now, I really see how it makes sense to other people. I still will never get one, but I'm not so vocal about bashing it anymore. I mean, especially when guys like Stephen Fry and my other smart friends can intelligently rationalize why it makes sense to them, I give them that respect.-zridling (April 08, 2010, 05:33 PM)
40hz, perhaps you're not really suggesting that there are "only" these 2 camps, but even suggesting they're the majority seems dubious to me.The sad thing is I think it *will* appeal to average people- Oshyan-JavaJones (April 08, 2010, 07:37 PM)-JavaJones (April 08, 2010, 07:37 PM)
it mirrors much of the way the rest of the world works, for example the difference between politically active people and those who just don't care about politics (even if they still vote).-JavaJones (April 09, 2010, 12:14 AM)
What *does* surprise me is how Apple is screwing its target demographic of "those who don't care about lock-in" with all these bizarre limits, issues, etc. I guess it just surprises me that they get away with it.