iPad

[FIREd]

I think that the iPad can do a lot more things than people realize. But what frustrates people (DW included) is that the iPad requires to learn a brand new way of doing things. I personally enjoy the learning curve, but I can see how some people might not. And that's fine.

Last week I was at the Apple store and I was chitchatting with the sales clerk. When he found out that I had replaced a laptop PC with an iPad (and that after 1.5 month, I didn't miss the laptop at all), he introduced me to a couple of customers who were thinking about replacing their laptop PC with an iPad and who had questions. It felt very awkward because, despite my complete satisfaction with the iPad, I knew that the device was probably unsuitable for these people. What they were looking for was clearly another laptop. So I high tailed it out of there.

 

[CuppaJoe]

Kewl app.
YouTube - A quick demo of Air Display

Yeah, kewl. That voice, I think it's the same guy who does a rully kewl photo blog; I lost trac of him recently, I've just got too much content these days. Note the multiple wires to the left of the MacBook, LOL.

 

[audreyh1]

Have you checked the PDF apps on the app store? There seem to be several that might do what you want.

I'm going to wait a couple of weeks. DH thinks a major OS upgrade for the iPad is going to be announced on June 6 (the Apple Developer Conference) and for some reason he thinks there is going to be more support for PDF.

For now, the PDF reader that my mail program provides is good enough.

Also, I think it is obvious that Apple will upgrade the iDisk app to be more fully functional.

Audrey

 

[FUEGO]

I'm going to wait a couple of weeks. DH thinks a major OS upgrade for the iPad is going to be announced on June 6 (the Apple Developer Conference) and for some reason he thinks there is going to be more support for PDF.

For now, the PDF reader that my mail program provides is good enough.

Also, I think it is obvious that Apple will upgrade the iDisk app to be more fully functional.

This sounds like Microsoft. Putting out a half ready product with lots of follow ups and fine tuning patches to make it work as intended. iPad early adopters are really just beta testers at this point!

 

[TromboneAl]

if you expect it to do everything that a netbook can do, I think you'll be disappointed/frustrated, as you are.

No, my frustration comes from the lack of a standard document format. I never cared for the PDF standard, but at least it is a standard that many products support. It's annoying when a product doesn't support the most common standard, and annoying to have to convert from one standard to another.

Consider that there are literally hundreds of different image file formats. There's no need for more than a handful. There are many video formats as well, so you have to have different apps for watching videos, and apps have to support multiple formats for the same thing.

The inmates are running the insane asylum.

 

[ERD50]

No, my frustration comes from the lack of a standard document format. I never cared for the PDF standard, but at least it is a standard that many products support. It's annoying when a product doesn't support the most common standard, and annoying to have to convert from one standard to another.

But it does support pdf format. You an read them in mail, etc. I guess you are saying it doesn't support pdf format e-books (I haven't played with ebooks yet, so I'm not up on the variations)?

But I'll stand by my earlier statement - this thing is a special use device, not really as versatile as a computer/netbook. We would agree that some of their decisions on what to include, support, or limit seem odd, but it is what it is (IIIRC, there isn't a real 'file system' to save documents yet w/o a 3rd party app - that is super limiting IMO). They are selling them like hotcakes, so until competition comes along to push these deficiencies it will progress at whatever pace Apple chooses.

This sounds like Microsoft. Putting out a half ready product with lots of follow ups and fine tuning patches to make it work as intended. iPad early adopters are really just beta testers at this point!

It works as advertised. If those specs/features don't meet your needs, don't buy one. I'm sticking with my netbook for now, for these kinds of uses. I agree that there are too many limits for many users. And while I think DW's iPod Touch is super-impressive for what it is, I wouldn't shell out $ for one.

-ERD50

 

[IndependentlyPoor]

ARGGGG!!!!

I just ran into a highjacked website. I Googled up Kingsbridge Cathedral (how much more innocent can you get?) and clicked on one of the images. I immediately got one of those virus scans and YOUR COMPUTER IS INFECTED! messages. What is worse, it completely locked up Safari. Nothing worked, even after cycling the iPad's power. I could get it to load other webpages by clicking on a link in an email, but the popup was still there (despite the fact that I had the popup blocker on).

Here is the popup


I wasn't about to click on OK, so I remotely wiped my iPad. Didn't have anything important on it that wasn't backed up.

 

[W2R]

Good response, IP. Clicking on that probably wouldn't have been a good idea. Sorry to hear that you happened upon it, but I guess that is inevitable from time to time.

 

[REWahoo]

And I only had 40 or 50 pages to go in "Pillars of the Earth". Might have to repurchase it.

A really great book!

 

[IndependentlyPoor]

Whoopee! Discovered that the iBook store does keep track of your purchases and allows you to re-download them.

 

[FUEGO]

ARGGGG!!!!

I just ran into a highjacked website. I Googled up Kingsbridge Cathedral (how much more innocent can you get?) and clicked on one of the images. I immediately got one of those virus scans and YOUR COMPUTER IS INFECTED! messages. What is worse, it completely locked up Safari. Nothing worked, even after cycling the iPad's power. I could get it to load other webpages by clicking on a link in an email, but the popup was still there (despite the fact that I had the popup blocker on).

Here is the popup
View attachment 9317

I wasn't about to click on OK, so I remotely wiped my iPad. Didn't have anything important on it that wasn't backed up.

This is sounding more and more like Windows to me! And is this the first instance of a virus/malware impacting an apple/mac device?

 

[audreyh1]

A really great book!

Well - that's the only book I bought for the iPad.

Mainly because I've been seeing the movie trailers and I thought the movie adaptation didn't look so hot, but went to read the reviews of the book.

It's big enough to justify ebook rather than paper.

Audrey

 

[audreyh1]

This sounds like Microsoft. Putting out a half ready product with lots of follow ups and fine tuning patches to make it work as intended. iPad early adopters are really just beta testers at this point!

50% ready is a little harsh. It's way more complete than that, and calling it beta - well, not really, it's pretty polished for version 1 of a very new product. Like ED50 says it works as advertised. I can just see where there is likely going to be a lot more capability in the future.

Audrey

 

[TromboneAl]

Pillars of the Earth is an especially good book if you enjoy getting to know and love a character only to have him or her crushed or burned or killed in some other grisly fashion.

 

[W2R]

Pillars of the Earth is an especially good book if you enjoy getting to know and love a character only to have him or her crushed or burned or killed in some other grisly fashion.

With a review like that, who could resist? Now I'm intrigued, since REW and IP apparently like the book and I do have a weakness for the 12th century. I just downloaded the free sample to see if it needs to be on my "gotta read" list.

 

[audreyh1]

Pillars of the Earth is an especially good book if you enjoy getting to know and love a character only to have him or her crushed or burned or killed in some other grisly fashion.

Yeah, I got that impression from reading the reviews. And lots of pillage and rape. My historical interest is strong, however, and I have visited the Peterborough Cathedral that inspired the story.

Audrey

 

[IndependentlyPoor]

Apologies for veering off topic here, but...

Aren't free sample previews great? You can read enough to be pretty sure of your purchase. However, I almost didn't buy Pillars because the first part was so relentlessly dark and cruel.

I ended up enjoying the book a lot. It is definitely a sweeping epic, but written in a very sparse, terse, just-the-facts-mam style. I learned a lot about cathedrals, and it was fun Googling up the cathedrals described to read about them and see photos. I luvs the internets.

 

[REWahoo]

Follet's sequel to Pillars, World Without End, is a good read as well. It is set in the same town, Kingsbridge, but takes place two hundred years later and features the descendants of the original characters.

 

[IndependentlyPoor]

Interesting apps
iPad: Writing stuff - Charlie's Diary

 

[IndependentlyPoor]

Golly
Apple Announces Two Millionth IPad Sale - PCWorld Business Center

 

[bank5]

^^^ you beat me to it... 2 million is pretty impressive

 

[REWahoo]

You guys have some Apple stock, eh?

 

[kyounge1956]

Target, that's progress, they do have a long relationship with Amazon. Why does this Amazon/Apple thing remind me of the bigger war between Apple/Microsoft? mn, makes me want to wash out my mouth.

Hey, what ever happened to the Barnes and Noble Nook; imagine what they could have done with that word.

I was in a Barnes & Noble store yesterday, and there were kiosks setup with people demo-ing the Nook. I didn't check out the device, but other shoppers were.

 

[Rustic23]

Here come the clones!

Can Asus take on the iPad with Eee Pad and Eee Tablet? | Crave - CNET

Nothing about 3g or gps on these. It would take both, IMO, for these to become effective IPad alternatives.

 

[explanade]

Here come the clones!

Can Asus take on the iPad with Eee Pad and Eee Tablet? | Crave - CNET

Nothing about 3g or gps on these. It would take both, IMO, for these to become effective IPad alternatives.

It would also take software, apps. and just the refined integration that Apple provides.

There are reports of early Android tablet prototypes using Tegra2, which should be much faster than what Apple is using. But they said at the moment, these products stutter and are not just as smooth or refined as iPad.

One advantage you would think Apple has is that they control the hardware and software development so they test to make sure everything works together.

With Android, you got all kinds of Chinese manufacturers trying to tweak with Android on their own (and you know they're not doing the same kind of testing/QA that Apple probably does).

They may eventually produce some pretty solid products, like the Droid phones which are doing well right now. But Apple has established pretty good momentum already so that means they'll get more support from application developers and makers of peripherals/accessories.