Apple iPad

[Christmas In A Submarine.]

USB ports would be huge. External harddrives, optical drives, etc. I can imagine setting up an ipad as sort of home work station/semi-desktop: put it in the cradle, use the attachable keyboard, have access to all of your harddrives etc (though I suppose Airport solves a fair amount of this.) I like the idea of having something that performs nearly as well as a laptop or desktop at home and then being able to pop it out of its cradle and toss it in my bag for the day... its by no means perfect and I probably will hold off on getting one until more of the issues get sorted, but it's a promising idea.

[sybaritical]

I'm still waiting for Apple to release the Powerbook G5.

Never happen.

[herpsky]

Never happen.

Hmm. Given that the tablet's operating system is an extended version of the iphone OS, having usb ports would be pretty pointless b/c apple refuses to implement a file manager ala finder.

i wish i could save files locally via safari and look at them later...

[ROYALEFATALE]

severe letdown, i thought this thing would be running snow leopard, nope, it's literally a giant iphone. i have a feeling they stuck with the same OS to limit the piracy of content by directing those who don't know any better to their itunes/app/book stores, this is a smart move on apple's part but a dealbreaker for me. oh and NO MULTI-TASKING? i already own an iphone no need for a slightly larger version, seems like one step forward and two steps back.

[M4TM]

I think it's pretty cool. I can see myself using it at home. it's not going to replace my MBP or phone, but i can see using it to check emails, watching videos, reading books and web browsing. basically what it's meant for...

[Doom Phd]

I'm sorry but this is just an iTouch/iPhone enlarged. I love apple products but this isn't anything near what they put out.

[sidneylo]

I share some of the sentiments about the lack of usefulness of this new device, but the quips and criticisms have been repeated throughout the years for other product releases. The proprietary system was a no-brainer; Apple's been on this track for a while now and it wouldn't make sense if they didn't continue this integration.

severe letdown, i thought this thing would be running snow leopard, nope, it's literally a giant iphone. i have a feeling they stuck with the same OS to limit the piracy of content by directing those who don't know any better to their itunes/app/book stores, this is a smart move on apple's part but a dealbreaker for me. oh and NO MULTI-TASKING? i already own an iphone no need for a slightly larger version, seems like one step forward and two steps back.

What sort of activities would you do on this device that would require you to multi-task (beyond the memory caching for applications in the iPhone/iPad OS)?

I get the sense that a huge majority of people who use their computers don't need the guts of the OS to accomplish tasks—we spend our time on the web browser, listening to music, and checking email. Anything else more task-specific would probably be best left to a workstation, desktop, or a laptop.

Never happen.

[blm14]

a) too expensive

lacks obvious "killer app" clarity. iPod was SO obviously a killer device, but this is kind of a hodgepodge of everything without really doing any one thing super well.

c) Still apple-knows-best. I want to run linux on it, wut wut?

d) its success will hinge completely upon what good software third parties come up with

e) a half inch thick? It's gonna be brittle and break easily

[selaviso]

i was hoping it was just gunna be a laptop, you know have ichat; able to install software; cd/dvd drive (actually does it have one?)

its cute, and pretty cheap. maybe ill wait for the next one to come out

[phoenix]

What sort of activities would you do on this device that would require you to multi-task (beyond the memory caching for applications in the iPhone/iPad OS)?

I get the sense that a huge majority of people who use their computers don't need the guts of the OS to accomplish tasks—we spend our time on the web browser, listening to music, and checking email. Anything else more task-specific would probably be best left to a workstation, desktop, or a laptop.

Without multi-tasking I cannot listen to last.fm radio (or any other radio station) while doing anything else. I can't have a twitter and instant messaging app open at the same time. I can't compose an email while simultaneously browsing through folders to attach an image or document. The phone OS is just a HUGE letdown- not just for lack of multitasking but no flash. Really? The lack of flash is tolerable on my iPhone but it'll make for a miserable experience on a tablet that's supposed to bridge the gap between smartphone and laptop. I'm really struggling to see what niche this product fills other than one for people with too much money.

[aqhong]

a) too expensive

lacks obvious "killer app" clarity. iPod was SO obviously a killer device, but this is kind of a hodgepodge of everything without really doing any one thing super well.

c) Still apple-knows-best. I want to run linux on it, wut wut?

d) its success will hinge completely upon what good software third parties come up with

e) a half inch thick? It's gonna be brittle and break easily

a) It's less than the original iPhone was when introduced, only half of the price everybody thought it would be last night, and doesn't require any expensive long-term contract (unlike the iPhone). But sure, it's too expensive.

What's the "killer app" for personal computers?

c) Serious question: Why do you even look at, or care about, Apple products, if this is what you want?

d) This is clever. If it fails, it'll be because it sucked. If it succeeds, it'll only be because of third parties. Either way, you'll be right! Congratulations.

e) If it's thick, it's not portable enough. If it's thin, it's "brittle." Right again!

[b.e-n]

USB for a billion different peripherals/cameras/portable HDDs/memory card readers etc etc. The complaints about the keyboard aren't about the size of it, they're about typing on it in any way other than it resting on your lap as you lounge in a chair.

for the camera, ok. you've got the computer for the portable HDD, this thing isn't supposed to be a full blown computer (can't cramp one that can run smoothly in a case this thin). if it were to be a full blown tablet computer with usb ports and all that, it wouldn't be thin and so many people would complain about the way it looks.

and what other way would you type on it than having it on your lap or on a table?

people always find something about a product they want added to it or don't like, most of them have probably been thought out by the guys at apple and there was probably an obvious reason for it not being there. (how the hell would you run snow leopard on a 1ghz cpu, battery life would be fucked as well as performance)

[sidneylo]

My mama is getting one for her birthday.

Without multi-tasking I cannot listen to last.fm radio (or any other radio station) while doing anything else. I can't have a twitter and instant messaging app open at the same time. I can't compose an email while simultaneously browsing through folders to attach an image or document. The phone OS is just a HUGE letdown- not just for lack of multitasking but no flash. Really? The lack of flash is tolerable on my iPhone but it'll make for a miserable experience on a tablet that's supposed to bridge the gap between smartphone and laptop. I'm really struggling to see what niche this product fills other than one for people with too much money.

All points I can agree on.

HTML5 > Flash. If something like a Hulu would convert to HTML5, like YouTube has recently done, there would be a potential death knell for Flash for everyday users in the realm of tv/media (unless we're talking about dirty ganguro porn flash games (because we can't live without that sort of entertainment).)

[M4TM]

someone said it's too thin/brittle? it's actually thicker than a kindle.

and re: usb/storage - it's got dongles - for USB or SD card reader.

[lawless]

i'd rather pay 1500 or 2000 for a device that can run illustrator and cs4. i don't really care about hard drive space or a cd/dvd drive. but 1 usb port would be nice.

is this thing going to be using a standard wall charger like the mb's?

[sidneylo]

i'd rather pay 1500 or 2000 for a device that can run illustrator and cs4.

[lawless]

assuming they'd charge that price. i just want to fuckin draw pictures and shit!

[aqhong]

assuming they'd charge that price. i just want to fuckin draw pictures and shit!

http://www.wacom.com/cintiq/cintiq-21ux.php

[lawless]

shoud've wrote to replace my wacom. i basically want the Cintiq with more features. i guess an itablet would be fitting

[aqhong]

^ Sounds like something you should be asking Wacom for, then, not Apple; don't see why'd want to enter the relatively tiny market for specialized graphics tablets, and it's not exactly a bolt-on feature.

[ROYALEFATALE]

Without multi-tasking I cannot listen to last.fm radio (or any other radio station) while doing anything else. I can't have a twitter and instant messaging app open at the same time. I can't compose an email while simultaneously browsing through folders to attach an image or document. The phone OS is just a HUGE letdown- not just for lack of multitasking but no flash. Really? The lack of flash is tolerable on my iPhone but it'll make for a miserable experience on a tablet that's supposed to bridge the gap between smartphone and laptop. I'm really struggling to see what niche this product fills other than one for people with too much money.

exactly what i was thinking, it's the ease of use/freedom of OSX or any other desktop-based GUI for that matter. switching between windowed apps is much more efficient not to mention the ability to run any number of third party programs available to OSX yet not the iPhone. If you own an iPhone you know how painstakingly slow it becomes over time when switching between apps, which the OS forces you to do for something as simple as copying text from IM window and pasting to an email. It would be like having to do a user logout on OSX anytime you wanted to switch between applications, which takes about the same amount of time as the iPhone does to switch between apps. I was expecting an OSX enviroment with added portability, apparently i'm looking too far into the future.

[MharcI]

Id love to play Doodle Jump on it though.

[jebeebus]

[KnifeFight]

you guys are all looking past the fact that this will be awesome for doing coke off of when your on the go....

[blm14]

a) It's less than the original iPhone was when introduced, only half of the price everybody thought it would be last night, and doesn't require any expensive long-term contract (unlike the iPhone). But sure, it's too expensive.

But nobody actually PAID the full price for the iPhone because it came with a contract.

What's the "killer app" for personal computers?

You're missing the point. Personal computers are the do-anything tool. They don't necessarily need a killer app because they're so flexible. Because this device is by definition less able than a PC it needs to be able to do some particular function or functions really well to justify NOT spending the relatively small amount of additional money on something like an OQO.

c) Serious question: Why do you even look at, or care about, Apple products, if this is what you want?

Because people use them, and I work in IT, which means that I use them. It kind of comes with the territory when you work in my industry. I'm sure lots of people would use a device like this if it were more flexible in what kinds of stuff you could put on it, instead of being limited to some lame apple-proprietary macOS lite.

d) This is clever. If it fails, it'll be because it sucked. If it succeeds, it'll only be because of third parties. Either way, you'll be right! Congratulations.

No, if it fails it will be because software wasn't developed that found the right niche. I didn't say it sucked... I just think it's an insufficiently large jump from anything existing to justify creating it, given what you can do with it right now.

e) If it's thick, it's not portable enough. If it's thin, it's "brittle." Right again!

I carry a 12 pound laptop, and don't see why anyone else can't. You're making this argument to the wrong person. I've also had the same cell phone for 7 years because it's indestructible. I can't tell you the number of times I've seen those apple "air" laptops with serious physical damage because people didn't realize how delicate they are. Ditto for this thing - it's a half-inch-thick LCD screen. What percentage of these that apple produces do you think will end up leaking fluid from cracks in the screen within the first 6 months. I've seen it happen with dozens and dozens of iPhones, and this thing is MUCH easier to jar in some way that would damage it.

[AstroWolf]

is it just me aqhong is a total dick?

i await your reply.

[Magsåvningsreserven]

My mama is getting one for her birthday.

All points I can agree on.

HTML5 > Flash. If something like a Hulu would convert to HTML5, like YouTube has recently done, there would be a potential death knell for Flash for everyday users in the realm of tv/media (unless we're talking about dirty ganguro porn flash games (because we can't live without that sort of entertainment).)

it's great that a large service like youtube have begun testing html5 already, but it isn't going to be finalised for at least another decade and until then I would think Flash/silverlight/whatever is relatively safe.

But Flash supports hardware acceleration now (beta last time i checked) so it's not all that bad; users on netbooks can watch 720p - maybe 1080p if it has Ion.

[Analog]

we have a starcraft and anime threads, yet we dont have any official tech thread..why???

Tech == Religion

[blm14]

I think a general tech thread would be too unwieldy. It would consist of so many simultaneous conversations that it would end up being 30 pages of posts a day.

Think "random thoughts" x100

[blm14]

and you know something, come to think of it, I'm having a strong sense of deja vu here: