iPad usefulness?
in [UK Mac]
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From: Woody on 31 Mar 2010 07:15 zoara <me18(a)privacy.net> wrote: > Peter Ceresole <peter(a)cara.demon.co.uk> wrote: > > Woody <usenet(a)alienrat.co.uk> wrote: > > > > > Unfortunately it is hard to answer that one at the moment as the > > > iPad > > > isn't out. There is a risk that you won't be able to update it > > > without > > > plugging it in, but until someone actually has one, there isn't a > > > way to > > > say for sure, everything is just speculation > > > > Okay, thanks Woody. I was wondering about updates if she didn't have > > another machine, but I presume that Apple will have sorted that out, > > as > > the iPad is much more of a 'computer' than an iPhone, and people are > > much more likely to have it as their sole device. > > Personally, I think this is a bigger concern than lack of Flash. I > reckon Apple are positioning this heavily as a companion device (perhaps > to act as an incentive to buy a "parent" Mac? I wonder how much profit > they make per iPad compared to per Mac) and it will take a lot to make > them budge. Quite a bit on an iPad apparently. But more important to that is going to be this data issue. > Given that it uses the iPhone OS it's likely you'll miss a lot without a > companion Mac. You can't activate an iPhone without one - though the > "sign up for a month's coverage wherever you are" feature of the iPad > says that might not be the case. Adding music or photos will probably be > quite a chore (unless you buy the camera connector?). Apple photo connector and the cloud, the .me connection > It really is the computer for the rest of us. Or rather, the rest of > *them*. I reckon in the next few years we - ie those familiar and > comfortable with traditional computers - will find ourselves slowly > marginalised by people who don't want computers, they just want email > and a bit of video and to read the news and look at photos but no, no, > no, it's not a computer, it's just my iPad. Quite right, I would agree with that. See the thing is back in the old days, if you had a computer, people used to think it was odd and say 'what do you do with a computer?' then games and the internet came in and everyone wanted one, but they really don't, they want the games and the internet, and have to put up with a computer to get it. > Well, not always the iPad - but nevertheless I reckon "uncomputers" - > computers that feel like appliances - will become the norm, and real > computers will become the thing that only "specialists" use, or the > thing you're forced to use at work and hate with a passion. That is how I see it going. I think in history it will just look like an odd transitional period between the early 90s and the mid 10s when people had computers as they are now. -- Woody
From: Woody on 31 Mar 2010 07:16 David Kennedy <davidkennedy(a)nospamherethankyou.invalid> wrote: > Peter Ceresole wrote: > > > > No, but plenty of my friends have. The ones that are good cooks have all > > bought proper cookers as well- they had to. > > Not if they actually were good cooks... > > Maybe they just need to read the instruction manual. Trouble is, noone writes good manuals anymore! IGMC -- Woody
From: Peter Ceresole on 31 Mar 2010 07:18 Woody <usenet(a)alienrat.co.uk> wrote: > There is a keyboard dock with a USB, a USB only dock, or a camera dock > with a USB. Take your pick. Thank you. I looked in the specs but although I could find the dock, it didn't say if it did USB. I couldn't believe that Apple would leave that out, but I was under th shock of discovering how limited they had made it. -- Peter
From: Andrew Templeman on 31 Mar 2010 07:25 Woody <usenet(a)alienrat.co.uk> wrote: > Andrew Templeman <andy(a)templeman.org.uk> wrote: > > > Peter Ceresole <peter(a)cara.demon.co.uk> wrote: > > > > > Jochem Huhmann <joh(a)gmx.net> wrote: > > > > > > > But to *really* support solo use it would also need some way for doing > > > > backups without a computer and this requires more than just some > > > > software changes in the OS. > > > > > > But people will be using it who really don't want the full panoply of a > > > computer. > > > > > > Backups of vital stuff should be easy; you can get low cost 4GB thumb > > > drives- just copying text and mail folders should do it. However, > > > looking rapidly at the specs there doesn't seem to be any way to connect > > > a USB device to it, even with a dock. The iPad seems horribly, horribly > > > limited. > > > > > > So maybe I'm missing something, or Apple really have screwed up. > > > > You know when people said that it's like a big ipod touch? They were > > very nearly right. It has a few more things, like you can get 3G data > > card included, and attach a keyboard, and has Apps and UI better tuned > > for the bigger screen. But basically it is a big ipod and needs a > > computer for the syncing with itunes. > > > > It doesn't have Finder (or a user visible file system) so you can't just > > copy your mail folders and so on to anywhere. It's all done by syncing > > with iTunes. > > No, you can, it has a shared file space for transfering files between > applications. Is this visible from the iPad? The little I've seen mentioned indicate that it shows up as a folder on the host computer when you plug in to sync, a bit like photos from the camera roll of an iphone are available in image capture and notes are in mail. I would just expect a 'ipad Documents' share to be mounted on the Mac while the ipad is connected and you can copy files in and out. -- Andy Templeman <http://www.templeman.org.uk/>
From: Ben Shimmin on 31 Mar 2010 07:29
Woody <usenet(a)alienrat.co.uk>: > Ben Shimmin <bas(a)llamaselector.com> wrote: >> Jochem Huhmann <joh(a)gmx.net>: >> > I think I have never seen any website requiring Flash to buy things. >> >> Check out Adobe's store (I'm not even joking)! > > Yes, that is the only place I have seen a store that needed it! > > Mind you, that is a horrible store, and not just because of flash. The prices aren't great either. (I was disgusted last night when I saw the pricing for Flash Builder...) >> I'm tempted to encourage my parents to get an iPad. They really enjoy >> using the MacBook I gave them, permanently hooked up to a 20" display >> with an external keyboard and mouse -- it's just they find it all a >> bit complicated: you know, all these applications and windows and the >> Dock and all that multitasking nonsense... But I'm not sure moving >> to a smaller screener (and a completely different user interface >> metaphor, even if it is much simpler) is really a good idea for them. > > If my mum didn't already have the iMac I would be considering pushing > her that way, but she loves printing things, and there is an unknown > about the printing. Presumably with a wireless printer it is possible, > but its unknown at the moment. That's an interesting point. You'd think it'd be possible, but it doesn't seem to have been mentioned yet. b. -- <bas(a)bas.me.uk> <URL:http://bas.me.uk/> `Zombies are defined by behavior and can be "explained" by many handy shortcuts: the supernatural, radiation, a virus, space visitors, secret weapons, a Harvard education and so on.' -- Roger Ebert |